Foot Falls: HTLJ The Legend Continues
by FoxxStarr
Summary: Part one of my Foot Falls Series. Each Story takes place in a different fandom universe but we started off with HTLJ. Hercules and Iolaus meet two women with unusual powers who are sent to save their world.Who sent them and who are they saving the world from? Post Death of Alchemene. Rated M for language
1. Proloug

Iolaus groaned looking out the mouth of the cave at the torrential downpour, he hated being cooped up like this when he really would have rather have been hunting or fishing. He glanced over at Hercules who was leaning against the wall of the cave eyes closed apparently taking a nap. Iolaus would have liked to nap too but every time he tried to settle down he found himself far too restless. Something was about to happen, he could feel it and it made him incredibly antsy. A crack of thunder startled him and he jerked back tripping over a rock and landing on his butt. Hercules woke with a start and gave him a sardonic look. "First day with your new feet?"

"Oh haha." Iolaus retorted and stood up dusting off the seat of his trousers. "I wish it would stop raining, I want to be out fishing."

"In this rain you could be the fish." Hercules chuckled.

Iolaus chuckled and leaned against the wall watching the rain. Another clap of thunder rolled across the sky followed by another then another in quick succession. Hercules frowned and looked out the mouth of the cave as well. Neither of them was paying attention to the interior of the cave when the Portal opened dumping two strangely dressed women onto the floor. Iolaus was the first to notice them. "Uh Herc…"

Hercules turned around and gaped at the two women, one in a short blue skirt with a matching corset and white blouse with long black hair that only partially hid strangely pointed ears. She was brushing dirt off her skirt and it took him a second to stop staring at her long enough to notice her friend who was wreathed in flames. He blinked and realized that he wasn't seeing things, the other woman was a little taller than the first and was literally wearing fire. "Iolaus…?"

"I see it Herc but I think it's supposed to be that way." Iolaus replied.

"Holy shit! Arti you're on fire!" The first woman yelped and her friend started trying to put the flames out.

"On second thought maybe not." Iolaus added as he grabbed a blanket and tried to smother the flames only to have his blanket catch fire.

Hercules did the only thing he could think of and grabbed the woman on fire shoving her outside into the rain where everyone stared in dumbfounded amazement as she continued to be wreathed in fire AND soaking wet. "How in Tartarus?"

"Tracey! Where the fuck are we?!" The fiery woman shouted in confusion.

"I got a better question for you. How the hell did we get here?" Tracey replied walking out into the rain which did something completely unexpected and parted around her so she remained dry.


	2. Chapter 1 How the Hell They Got There

"I cannot believe this shit." Artemis growled looking around at the empty vendors hall. "We paid $150 for this?"

"Looks like." Tracey replied packing up for the night.

Artemis looked at her friend dressed in what they liked to call her blue elf costume, a short knee length skirt with a matching blue underbust corset and a white square necked peasant top. A pair of looping white sashes hung from her waist and she tapped a pair of ankle high boots. Artemis herself was wearing her Fire Sorceress outfit. A pair of dark red harem pants with long slashes up the outside seams to her hips and a fringe of fire colored strips around her waist. A corset top made of more flame colored fabric that tied halter style around her neck and a grecian style cape that had elastic bands at wrist and elbows and the nape of her neck flowed in more fire colored fabric down her back. She wore a crown of fire shaded tulle on her head and was tossing a faux fireball back and forth between her hands. "The room is locked overnight and it's not like we made anything to count, let's just leave it and go for dinner. I am starving and I want out of the costume."

Tracey sighed and nodded, as they walked out of the vendor room Artemis looked out the windows and groaned. "It's pouring buckets." As if to punctuate her words a clap of thunder crashed through the air.

"Maybe the gods just hate us today." Artemis bemoaned

"I thought they loved you." Tracey teased poking her friend. "You do pray to them after all."

Artemis was about to answer when three claps of thunder split the air one after another and the ground shook sending them both stumbling forward. The lights went out and then a fainter light illuminated their surroundings. Artemis could hear the rain much louder and wondered if a window had broken when the ground shook. She looked around wondering why the emergency lights seemed so dim when she realized they were A: Not in the hotel and B: She was on fire.

"Holy shit! Arti you're on fire!" Tracey yelped and in the back of her mind Artemis felt the thought. 'No shit Tracey.' but she ignored it while she tried to put the flames out. She felt a blanket get thrown over her but it didn't stop the flames. After a confused moment she was shoved outside into the rain but it did nothing to stop the flames that wreathed her but didn't seem to be burning her even though her hair and the fabric of her pants were hanging soaked around her. She looked up to see Tracey standing in the mouth of a cave.

"Tracey! Where the fuck are we?!" She shouted in confusion.

"I got a better question for you. How the hell did we get here?" Tracey replied walking out into the rain which did something completely unexpected and parted around her so she remained dry.

She didn't know what else to do or to think, her mind was a complete blank at the moment but she was sure there would be more questions later. Looking up into the darkened and rainy night sky, Tracey could only think how amazing it was that she was actually standing out in the middle of a rain storm and she was still dry. She kind of felt like Katara from the Last Airbender and that gave her an idea.

"Arty I want to try something!" Tracey said quickly, putting her hands above her head and gently swaying her hands at the wrist in a back and forth motion.

Much to her delight, the water collected about her and then was redirected over her to form a pool over her head. A small smile of pure awe lit up her face. She shifted her weight from one leg to another, her hand flowing in the same graceful motion as water flowing steadily over rocks in a stream. Tracey let the water fall off to her side and then looked to Artemis, who was still standing in the middle of the rain, soaked fabric clinging to her curvaceous body and blinked almost dumbfounded.

"Oh yeah, you're on fire... that's not normal." She stated, leaping forward and cautiously taking her by the wrist. "Let's go back to the cave and figure this out."

Now that she was actually thinking again, Tracey figured they could stay in the cave but when she looked up to the mouth of the massive rock formation, she saw that they weren't alone and stopped suddenly. How could she have been so oblivious and totally space out to the point that she didn't realize the two men already in the cave?!

"Um, Artemis, we're not alone... What should we do?" Tracey asked, glancing at her friend for a moment. "What if they freak out as badly as we are now?"

Artemis shook her head and Tracey could see she was puzzled and irritable which did not bode well for whomever had dumped them unceremoniously into this situation with zero explanation. "They're not going to freak out. A: If they were going to it would have been when we first arrived and they saw me on fire but they didn't and B: I recognize them. But that's not really important right now. I want out of the rain before we get to find out if I sneeze fireballs."

For their part Hercules and Iolaus were taking the whole situation rather well. Iolaus looked at Hercules. "So whatcha think? New Gods from a foreign land or just two really unlucky souls caught up in some game of the Olympians?"

Hercules regarded the women carefully watching the woman in blue, Tracey, her friend had called her do some kind of fluid dance manipulating the water with child like wonder. "Two really unlucky souls. Neither of them knows what to do with these powers."

"Oh that could be bad." Iolaus deadpanned with trademark understatement.

Yes it could. Looks like they're coming back inside." Hercules unfolded his arms and straightened. The taller of the two, the one on fire, looked really unhappy though he couldn't blame her. He noticed her features as she strode back into the cave like she had every right to be there. High cheekbones, snub nose and a slightly square jaw softened by full lips that looked like they usually did more smiling gave her a sort of ageless beauty. She wasn't an Aphrodite but she was pretty with pale skin set off by dark arching brows over dark eyes and hair to match that fell dripping wet to her shoulders. He turned his attention back to her friend in blue, her features were more classically pretty with large lightly colored eyes and a slightly longer nose than her friend. She too had a mouth for smiling that rested in a more delicate triangular face framed by long black hair to midback. Iolaus ever captivated by a pretty face was staring openly as the fiery woman's attire began to dry rapidly along with her dark hair. She stood straight and proud and offered a hand to Hercules. "My name is Artemis, This is Tracey." She motioned to her friend. "We literally have no idea how we got here. Any ideas?"

Iolaus and Hercules gave a short laugh surprised by her aggressiveness and straightforward manner. Artemis slumped a little. "I'll take that as a no."

She looked at Tracey. "You want to take over, you're better at this and I need a minute to figure out how to reign these powers in."

"You can do that already?" Iolaus blurted out.

Artemis laughed and Iolaus looked like he'd been hit with Cupids arrow for a moment before he collected himself, Hercules had to smile in a detached sort of way, he'd been right, she had a face meant for smiles and it made her even more lovely, something his smaller friend would be tripping over himself to express to her when he collected his wits. "I wouldn't be much of a witch if I couldn't figure out how to reign in my power."

Tracey nodded her head and grinned a little, looking at the shorter man and Arty while she settled down and the fire and sweeping her blue skirt flat against her butt and the back of her thighs so she could sit without being hindered or revealing the shorts she wore beneath the skirt. She ended up tucking her legs close to her body, leaning on her arm, and watching the fire before speaking to the well sculpted man who still stood across from them.

"Don't worry about Artemis, she's not the type of person to hurt anyone with her powers... unless they deserve it." She began, tilting her head to one side to study the big guy. "But like Artemis said, we don't know how we got here... this doesn't even look like our time."

Glancing around the cave and then back to the mens' clothing, she continued. "You wouldn't happen to know of anyone who might be able to help us out a little would you? I don't even know how we would pay them back if the could help us, we don't have any money for this region of the world."

Bumping the heel of her hand to her forehead, she shook her head and smiled. "I'm sorry, introductions are in order. I just went right on talking and I didn't catch your names, what were they please?"

Iolaus and Hercules looked at each other faintly amused by the two women before Iolaus answered. "Well I'm Iolaus and the smaller than average mountain is Hercules." He snuck a look at Artemis standing to one side eyes closed seeming to ignore them all. "And you're in Greece. I'm not sure if that helps you at all."

"GREECE!? What is the calendar year?!" Tracey exclaims, her eyes going wide with amazement.

She totally bypassed the fact that their names were Iolaus and the famous Hercules of Legend. The fact that these were the same legends that history, which she learned in school, was talking about. They were also the same characters for a beloved T.V. series that she and Artemis both loved to watch when they were in their own time. Now what she needed to know was, what were the chances that they were going to get home? "Wait... we actually do know of you and the things that you've both done, but it would be a little hard to explain."

"Well if we know who they are hon we know what calendar year." Artemis replied dryly from where she stood with her eyes still closed. "And we're from the future. No we don't know how we got here and no we're not telling you anything about the future."

Hercules sighed with frustration and Iolaus winced, neither of them had had good experiences with time travel. "We're going to have to talk to the Gods aren't we?" Iolaus asked in resignation.

"Let's try figuring this out on our own first." Hercules said sourly and sat down on the opposite side of the fire from Tracey.

Looking from Hercules and Iolaus, Tracey sighed a little and then stared into the fire in front of her, letting it warm her through and through. It chased out the slight chill in the night air as it wafted into the cave between the showering rain and the intervals of lightning that flashed in between the thunder rolls. She never did like the rain and gave it a slight frown at the weather.

"I'm sorry we're going to be a bother to you both for a little while." Tracey started, looking at both the guys in turn. "And I'm sorry for Artemis' attitude, this hasn't really been our night."

Hercules gave a short laugh. "In this time and place her 'attitude' will probably help keep you both alive. Besides, given the shock you've both had I don't begrudge her a little surliness."

Iolaus dropped onto the floor next to Hercules and grinned. "So tell us what happened to bring you here… in this deluge."

"That's just the thing, we really don't know how we got here." Tracey said, trying to explain as clearly as she could. "All we can really say is that there were suddenly three flashes of lightning, followed by thunder, and then poof we're here talking to you guys."

Tracey nodded her thanks to Hercules and gave him a friendly smile. "I think on the plus side though, we were endowed with the abilities of the costumes in which we wear. I must say is pretty sweet because we're just normal mortals and powerless in our world."

"Speak for yourself." Artemis said in a saucy tone as she plopped down near Tracey but not right next to her just in case she accidentally burned her. "I was never normal." She smiled and rubbed her eyes.

"Ah yes, that's right." Tracey replied with a roll of her eyes and a smile. "I'm the mortal and 'normal is just a setting on the washer machine'." She looked over the fire at Hercules and Iolaus's slightly confused looks and shook her head. "It's just something we have in our world that makes washing dishes easier. I think with a little food and sleep we'll be fine to start figuring out how to get home... if that's even possible."

Hercules smiled glancing at his friend. The two women seemed to have a similar relationship to what he and Iolaus had. Both women looked exhausted and the rain didn't seem to be slowing. Iolaus pulled a cloth wrapped bundle of leftover rabbit and some bread and cheese out and offered it to the women. "Oh thank God. Food!" Artemis grinned and grabbed a chunk of bread and cheese handing them to tracey. "Thanks guys. We had a hell of a day before all this."

She bit into the bread and seemed to relax as the food hit her stomach. Iolaus grinned. She was just like Herc when he needed to eat. "So tell us about yourself ladies." Hercules watched Artemis's face close down a little and figured there was some heartbreak there.

Tracey knew personal history time would be a bit hard on Artemis at this point. Her friend was missing her long time lover who had finally managed to get a job and move to Japan, a place Artemis could not follow. They'd been apart for the better part of a year and were on a relationship hiatus. Tracey graciously took the bread and cheese from Artemis and nodded while raising the food to Hercules and Iolaus in thanks before biting into the bread and taking a piece of cheese from the wedge she had taken from Artemis.

"See like I said, a little food and rest and we'll be fine." She started before glancing at Artemis and her own facial features wavered a little. "That's a little bit of a touchy subject for Arty I'm afraid and perhaps she'll speak of herself later. There's really not much to tell other than we've been working hard for the last two years with our business and so far we've been doing well. Hopefully soon enough I won't have to work two jobs anymore and can focus on just our business. It's mostly crafting things that other people like and then we sell them the items."

Tracey took a moment to take another bite of her bread and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing and continuing again. "Artemis is the real brains of our business." Tracey said proudly, giving her best friend a smile and a nudge of her shoulder. "She handles everything, including organizing the conventions we go to, running out to get the materials we need and everything else. I never really told her how much I appreciated her dedication and hard work, but I do."

Artemis gave her friend a light nudge in return. "Uh huh, and who outsells me at every turn, and pulls of all the best costumes and charms organizers into giving us a discount on tables?" She grinned at her friend and poked her friend in the ribs. "We do pretty well together, it's not a bad way to work. And we get to see a lot of the country together. And now it looks like we get to see a lot more of the world than we'd planned on. Hhey did you two feel the earth shake or was that just me?"

Hercules shook his head. "No, we just heard three claps of thunder back to back."

Artemis nodded and rested her chin in one hand. She seemed to ignore the flames crackling in her crown and around her waist or down her back pooling on the floor. After a moment Iolaus spoke up. "Isn't that hot?"

Artemis looked at the flames around her waist. "Actually no, The flames don't seem to do anything unless I will them to."

"That's handy." Iolaus seemed at a loss for anything to say which was unusual for him. Tracey yawned not even bothering to hide it and Artemis yawned as well. "Sorry. It's been a day."

Iolaus got up and offered them both blankets. "I'm sorry, I should have realized."

Hercules tried to hide a grin as Iolaus almost tripped over himself trying to be solicitous. "Thank you Iolaus." Tracey said, taking the blanket and laying it out on the sandy cave floor.

By laying on top of the blanket and leaving a little to wrap herself up in, Tracey could guarantee that the sandy floor wouldn't bother her while she slept. Tracey only had to more a few small rocks from beneath her bedding and prepared for sleep, looking at Arty to see if she was doing the same.

"I don't think you'll need that my dear, you're already warm blooded and hot headed as is." She laughed, settling down to sleep, her arm tucked under her head.

Tracey gently touched her pointed ears after they poked her in the arm. She shook her head and then laid her head back down on her arm. The other arm she used to wrap the blanket around herself and tucked her legs close to her body. Looking at Iolaus and then letting her tired blueish green eyes rest on Hercules, she smiled and blinked her eyes lazily.

"Thank you for all your help, I promise we'll try not to be a burden for you guys."

"You won't be a burden." He assured her.

Artemis had tucked herself into a corner of the shallow cave using the folded pillow as a cushion under her butt. "Just in case I can't control the fire while I sleep." She answered the unspoken question on everyone's faces. Hercules nodded and he and Iolaus settled down to try and sleep.

Meanwhile on Olympus Zeus was watching the scene unfold and wondering if it had been the right move to bring these two women from the future to save the past. He'd only meant to bring the witch but her power was so tightly wound around the other that it pulled them both through the portal. The witch still prayed to the Old Gods and they needed that but the other was an enigma. He sighed. He'd have to wait and see if these 4 souls could be enough to tip the balance.


	3. Chapter 2: Its too Damned Early

Hercules woke up to the smell of burning wool and Artemis muttering something. He looked over and saw her stomping out the small fire on the blanket she'd been sitting on. She looked exhausted and irritable. Once the blanket was no longer on fire she stomped quietly out of the cave not realizing that he was awake. He got up and followed her out keeping a discreet distance between them. He saw her sitting on a rock eyes closed and by her breathing she was trying to reign in her emotions and her powers. He sat down nearby and she opened her eyes. "Sorry if I woke you."

"It's fine. You look like you could use someone to talk to." He crossed his arms over his chest.

She shrugged. "I was right last night, if I fall asleep I can't control the flames and I set things on fire."

"Is it tied to your emotions?" He asked.

"I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out but I am not good at Mornings and it is really early." She rubbed her face and took off the crown which kept burning. She ran her hands through her hair. "That and I have this gut feeling that we're here for a reason. Like we're meant to be doing something and I haven't got a clue what. Not to mention my usual avenue of seeking answers is probably not the safest here in this time since the Gods were… are, incredibly volatile so asking them for guidance could be a really bad idea."

"You still follow the Gods in the future?" He asked surprised.

She gave a wry smile. "Not all of us do. But I have since I was in my early twenties. I pray to a number of Gods from a number of pantheons depending on what I'm asking for."

"I'd have thought people in the future would have had more sense." He said shortly.

She scowled and picked up her crown settling it back on her head and standing. She stood straight and proud her shoulders set and her chin up defiantly. He thought for a second that she looked like an angry queen in the dawn light. "We do have more sense and more options. I'm going to exercise one now and go for a walk." She stalked away her fiery cape flowing behind her as she walked towards the river.

Tracey woke when Iolaus started moving around. He'd woken when Hercules left and had stood in the entrance of the cave watching the exchange. Tracey could hear a few snatches of the exchange and had been surprised by Artemis's anger. Normally her friend was levelheaded and more polite than that. "And here I thought that she just needed some food and rest was all we needed, I'm sorry." Tracey started, shaking her head and sitting up on her blanket before standing and shaking the sand from it. "Artemis really is a nice person, but she is right, something doesn't feel right here. I mean, I only thought this sort of thing happened in movies and stories, but I guess we were wrong."

She rolled up the blanket and tied the bundle up before shifting it diagonally over her shoulder. If they were to be traveling together, Tracey was going to pull her weight and then there's Artemis, that would be a whole other thing to deal with. Arty seemed to suspect something and that was always cause for concern. Tracey knew a little bit of Artemis' powers, only that which she would allow her to see of course, but there was something more at play here and they would have to be careful.

"I'll see if I can talk to Arty before we set off... whichever which way we're going." She said with a shrug. "I should probably look for a weapon to help defend myself too. Well that will come while we're on the road I think and I can't wait to try out some more of my abilities."

With a smile, she departed the cave and on soft footsteps that surprised her, Tracey went off to find her friend. She alighted the ground quietly, this new world opening up all around her and it was amazing. Never had she heard so much and sensed everything around her. She could hear birds chirping from what she figured was far off, their song beautifully and sweet. The flowers and moist earth beneath her black boots brought fresh growth and scent to her nose, their color was bright and beautiful. Bending down, Tracey gently plucked a beautiful, red rose from a cluster at her feet and a small smile came to her lips. Suddenly her pointed ears twitched a the smallest sounds and then she turned in the direction in which they came.

'I'd know that noise wherever we were, oh Artemis, I'm coming for you.' She thought, following the faint sounds coming from her left.

Upon her quiet approach, Tracey took the rose and dangled it over Artemis' head, making it tickle her nose. "My lovely fire sorceress, what is troubling you and what should we be wary of?"

Artemis looked at Tracey and wrinkled her nose. "Heard all that huh?"

She sighed and looked up at the sky. "I dunno… I just feel… out of control, like I can't reign in my temper. Its this constant pressure like my skin is about to crack open and spill something terrible out." She looked at Tracey.

"I think it's these new powers. It's not just the costumes we were wearing, at least I don't think it is. I think it draws our deepest, truest selves out to the surface and I've always had a lot of anger to draw from. Remember how I told you that I spent years in therapy to get a grip on my anger?"

Tracey nodded and Artemis continued. "It's like whoever brought us here made the anger stronger, more of a fuel for the fire. You're a peaceful, non confrontational person at heart so your powers are softer, more peaceful." She smiled looking at her friend and motioning to her ears. "More elfin. Me on the other hand, I'm aggressive, argumentative and pushy. All aspects of fire, it's just taking me a little more time than I thought it would to get a handle on the new level of anger." She held a hand up to Tracey and held her fingers. "I'll apologize when we go back I just need a few minutes to get a handle on it."

She looked out over the river and they were silent for a few moments before Artemis spoke again. "They're just as cute in person huh?"

Tracey couldn't help but giggle quietly and then smile after her fits of laughter subsided. She looked at Artemis and hugged her, only slightly concerned with the flames that were warm and flickering around her body.

"Yeah I have to agree with you there, my sweet." She replied, poking Arty's nose before touching her own and springing away before her own could be attacked in turn. "I don't think they will take your anger personally my dear, they don't really have the heart for it and besides, you're so strong and full of life, it's not your fault that this place is bringing out your true strength."

Lightly she twirled around before cartwheeling back to land a pace from Artemis' sitting form and she smiled again.

"Fire is a hard element to control anyway and you know as well as I that it's going to take a little longer to control." Tracey answered, tilting her head as she inspected Artemis from head to toe with a smile. "But we both know that you can do it, you're a strong person and have the determination and heart to overcome anything... Come on, let's go back and start on our way."

Walking back to her side, Tracey took Artemis by the hand and helped her to her feet, already pulling her forward and back to the cave. Iolaus and Hercules were sparring in a friendly way on the grass in front of the grass laughing and picking on each other. Artemis and Tracey watched them for a few minutes smiling at their antics. Eventually Hercules just lifted Iolaus over his head and held him there while Iolaus complained that he was cheating. "You know I think we should go see the Oracle at Delphi." Artemis commented quietly still watching them. "Journeys like this usually start with a prophecy or a sign. Some kind of clue and so far we haven't seen any clue aside from being dropped off with Greece's two biggest heros."

"I think you're right my sweet..." Tracey answered with a nod of approval. "We'll have to talk to them to see how far it would be from wherever the hell we are to the Oracle and then yes, we should go."

She kept watching Iolaus and Hercules closely, her pointed ears twitching every time either of them swung at the other. Even their foot work didn't go unnoticed by her eyes, keenly watching everything, she just tilted her head and picked out a few things she thought she could use to her advantage. Tracey glanced at Arty, knowing how she really felt in their world about Iolaus, but couldn't help but get a few devious ideas in her head. Standing up, she saunter over to them sparring in the grass and waited for them to stop.

"May I have a go?" She asked, looking from Hercules to Iolaus. "I don't have any prior fighting experience but I've been meaning to try my hand at it... if you'll give me ten minutes of your time. I think that's all I'll need."

Hercules backed up. "I'd really rather not. I don't want to hurt you."

Iolaus gave his friend an exasperated look. "Herc… you know a dozen Amazons. You know better than a lot of people how tough women can be." He turned to Tracey and gave her a lopsided grin. "I'll be your sparring partner for ten minutes. Do you spar often?"

He dropped into a ready stance and waited for her to match him. She matched him and thought back to some of what Artemis had shown her. "Nope. But I'm a quick study."

He feinted towards her but she ignored it and waited for the actual blow, the next few minutes were a quick succession of blows, feints and jumps. Artemis bit her cheek and tried not to call out advice to her friend. Hercules frowned and looked surprised as Tracey started beating Iolaus, she had admitted that she had no fighting experience and Iolaus had years of training and experience under his belt. His eyes tracked to Artemis who was watching the match with a experienced eye herself. Iolaus tried one more desperate grapple and Tracey almost floated out of it and put him on his ass. He looked stunned as Tracey held a hand down to him to help him up, Artemis clapped. "Tracey that was amazing. Seriously if I didn't know you hadn't had any training I'd swear you were at least a greenbelt." She walked over to Tracey and Iolaus. "That was fun to watch!"

"Sorry Iolaus." Tracey said with a grin as she helped him to his feet again. "Like I said I haven't had any training prior to this but watching you two move I could put together a pattern."

She herself dusted off her hands, placed them on her hips, and gave Artemis a smile.

"By working that pattern into my moves, whether I was avoiding your advances or striking back, I was able to counter and strike back. I just had to watch you and Hercules sparring and it made a little more sense to me. Of course I picked out a few things that I could use against you... and you too Hercules, it's just from observation..."

With a shrug over her shoulders, Tracey coughed and changed the topic quickly, hoping she didn't sound rude or insult anyone's pride. "We have a plan of attack and we could use some information if you can give us some directions."

Iolaus gaped at her but Hercules spoke first. "You don't think we're going to leave you two alone?"

Artemis chuckled. "Not really but Tracey doesn't like to feel like she's put anyone out." She shrugged and slung an arm over Tracey's shoulder. "We're going to the Oracle at Delphi. Would you guys be willing to get us there and we'll figure out what to do from there?"

"Oh sure! Delphi is really nice this time of year and there's good fishing on the way." Iolaus positively beamed at them.

"Well then, lead the way." Artemis motioned with an open palm and jumped when a fireball sprang into being in her palm. "Well shit. I'll have to be careful about that." She closed her fist and the fireball snuffed out.

They'd been on the road about four hours with Iolaus entertaining them with jokes and funny, if horribly sung, songs. The sun was high in the sky when they stopped for a light lunch and Artemis was leaning against a tree out of the sun. Tracey was helping Hercules clean up the lunch remains while Iolaus was filling a bag with beech nuts from a nearby beech tree they'd found during lunch. He kept looking over at Artemis who had her eyes closed meditating, he was familiar with the meditation state having learned to do so himself years before. It gave him a few minutes to admire her under the tree, the fire of her crown burning to low yellow flames. He wandered back to the lunch site and packed the full bag of nuts into his backpack before flopping down on his side and sticking a long blade of grass between his teeth. Tracey and Hercules both noticed his far away gaze but their attention was diverted when Artemis swore. "Dammit not again." She was kicking sand onto the burning stump she'd been sitting on.

Tracey sprang forward and made quick, flowing motions with her hands, as if she was directing a orchestra on music night. Water from the lazy stream they had stopped to have lunch at suddenly slithered like a snake toward them, rippling and dancing as Tracey moved not only her hands, but her body as well. She gestured in quick vertical motions with her hands and the water followed her command, falling like rain onto the stump until it smoldered and only thin wisps of smoke curled up from the singed wood. Just for good measure, Tracey repeated the process and then looked at Artemis, making sure nothing else had caught fire while she was trying to put the first set of flames out.

"Are you okay Arty?" She asked quietly.

She was only slightly aware that the boys had started toward them, but had stopped once they saw that she and Artemis had everything under control. Artemis smoothed her hands down the sides of her legs and sighed. "Yeah I'm fine. I let my thoughts wander." She shrugged and looked at the blackened stump then back at the boys. "Sorry about that."

Iolaus gave her a charming lopsided grin. "Well at least we won't have to worry about not being able to start a fire while you're with us. And it's going to be cold in Delphi this time of year. I'll be nice and warm. Mind if I huddle up?" He chuckled.

Artemis laughed and Tracey joined her, after a moment so did Hercules. When they subsided Artemis looked around at the placid countryside. "Oh I could get used to this."

Tracey looked from Artemis and then back to the scenery in front of them, letting her giggles fade away. Taking in a deep breath of the fresh air before letting it out again, she smiled and nodded in agreement.

"I have to say that you're right Arty, it really is nice here. It was so peaceful and bright, there's a nice, positive aura and it just makes me smile."

Lifting up her arms above her head, twirling around in circles, small giggles escaping from her at each twirl.

"I could get used to this too. For now my feet will suffice... but I wonder how many dinars a horse would cost use." Tracey voiced out loud, putting on a thoughtful face and tapping her chin. "It really is beautiful here."

Artemis watched her friend fondly while they walked down the road, Hercules and Iolaus walked alongside the two women while they exchanged playful banter. Artemis was sharing an amusing story that involved something called a 'car' and a 'spare tire.' when Iolaus caught his eye and motioned for him to hang back. Tracey was laughing at Artemis's story a little ahead of them. "Herc I think we should take the Eastern route."

"Something wrong with this road?" Hercules asked eyes scanning the surrounding area.

Iolaus opened his mouth to reply when they heard male laughter from around the bend. His head jerked around when he realized that the girls had rounded a bend in the road and he couldn't see them. "Yeah… Mercenaries have been lurking on this road." Iolaus answered as they both started running.

They came to a dead stop when they rounded the bend and saw Artemis standing literally on top of a downed merc the flames around her burning bright and hot. Tracey was dusting off her hands and delivering a final kick to another Merc on the ground. Men lay scattered on the ground apparently thrown or blasted into unconsciousness, some had tiny fires licking their clothes. "Well that was fun." Artemis said stepping on the mans head on her way towards the boys.

Iolaus winced when the mans nose crunched a little. Tracey smirked and gave her hands a quick brushing off before focusing on her clothes and taking care of them too. Quite pleased with herself, she looked up at Hercules and Iolaus came around the grassy hill and giggled behind her hand. She didn't know what had taken them so long, but as they would be able to see, she and Artemis could take care of themselves.

"A little warning might have been nice, my dears, but no worries now because we handled it." Tracey said with a smile. "Weird thing is though... I did get a feeling like something was wrong. Hm, perhaps I can use that to my advantage."

With a shrug of her shoulders, Tracey turned and in a single movement, looped arms with Artemis and together they started off down the road again.

Hercules ran a hand over his face. "I can feel my hair going gray." He groaned.

Iolaus laughed. "I think it's refreshing, usually we have to do the saving. Maybe they can save us for a change."

He hurried to catch up with the girls and started asking questions about the future trying to get them to spill something useful. They had reached a small village by nightfall and Hercules managed to get them a pair of rooms in the local inn. They were eating a hearty meal when a young boy ran in yelling for help and Hercules and Iolaus jumped up before coming to an abrupt halt remembering the girls. Tracey and Artemis were right on their heels and Tracey crashed into Hercules. "Hey come on, get the lead out Herc." Artemis said swerving around him and following after the kid.

As soon as she had hit the brick wall in front of her, the air rushed from Tracey's lungs and left her winded. Out of instinct she had thrown up her hands and then looked up to find it had been Hercules the whole time. She had to take a few steps back and touching her nose tenderly and poking her ears to make sure they weren't bent out of shape... at least not any more than they were compared to everyone elses' she noticed.

"Wow, solid." She said, a slight blush on her cheeks before she recovered. "Why did you stop Hercules?"

"You should stay here." He insisted softly.

"Uh Herc… Artemis is already halfway up the road, you really want to leave Tracey here?" Iolaus asked incredulously as he headed after Artemis at a jog.

"No I suppose not. Stay behind me." Hercules insisted following the other two at a quick jog.

"There is no way I'm staying even if you asked me too." Tracey replied, lightly springing forward, feeling very light on her feet. "Try to keep up!"

With that said, she waved him onward and ran forward, her eyes keenly picking out Iolaus and Artemis so far ahead.

"This is far too interesting and there's no time to argue. If people are seriously hurt then you're going to need all the help you can get." She yelled over the wind to Hercules. "Oh yeah, if Artemis and I have to save you and Iolaus then there goes your spotless reputation of being the heroes."

They caught up with Iolaus and Artemis dragging a man out from under a burning beam while a barn burned nearby. The flames had spread to the house and Hercules could hear screaming from both the barn and the house. Before he could stop her Artemis was walking into the burning house. "Go to the barn. There are more people in there." She called to him.

She disappeared into the flames as Hercules did his best to move the half collapsed wall so he could get the people out. Before Iolaus and Tracey could do anything Iolaus saw the bandits responsible for the blaze running back towards them. "I hope you remember all that stuff you showed off earlier." He quipped to her before launching himself at the nearest bandit.

"These bastards did this, why?!" She exclaimed, taking a quick moment to look behind her as the flames raged on. "Unacceptable!"

She grabbed the next bandit, that came within her reach, who thought a woman in strange clothes wouldn't be hard to take down than a man, by the wrist and halted his sword arm. Much to his surprise, Tracey then drove her elbow into his diaphragm and then knocked him back on his ass. The result was the same with the rest of the bandits who came after them, but slowly Tracey started to falter with exhaustion. The bandits just kept coming and the flames still grew higher. She didn't know if Artemis would be able to put out the flames with her abilities or if the towns people would be able to help by bringing buckets of water while she and Iolaus handled the intruders.

"Do these guys ever give up or at least stay down?"

Iolaus ducked a sword. "It takes a lot to make them stay down but they eventually give up."

He got kicked in the side and fell to his knees but before the bandit could strike another blow Hercules was suddenly there covered in soot, his hair and skin singed, tossing the bandit into a nearby pond. The remaining bandits fell back in a panic and fled only to be met with a ring of fire. Artemis walked out of the burning house wreathed in fire, her dark hair was even flickering fitfully as she strode towards them like a vengeful spirit from hell, her eyes were hard and smoldering with her anger but Tracey knew she was reigning it in since she was also carrying a toddler on each hip. "If I were you I would stand very still and explain to me just why I shouldn't send you to hell where you sent these childrens poor mother."

Hercules took a step forward but Iolaus grabbed his arm. "I'd wait buddy."

The bandits were babbling, nearly tripping over themselves begging for mercy while Artemis stood impassively holding the crying babies. "Speak up and speak clearly." Tracey said commandingly, stepping closer and holding out her hands to take the children from Artemis. "Be quick about it, my friend doesn't have patience for stupidity and nor do I."

The children came willingly into her arms and began to cry harder. Quickly taking them away to where Hercules and Iolaus were standing, she crouched down with them in her arms and tried to comfort them. "We need to find their father Hercules."

"He was in the barn. The Healer is taking care of him." He replied looking like he really wanted to step in and stop Artemis.

The Bandits didn't have a good answer for her and chose instead to kneel on the blackened grass and wait for her to kill them. Artemis let the flames die away as a group f soldiers hustled up and started shackling the bandits leading them away. A soldier tried to grab Artemis and Hercules stepped up. "I wouldn't do that. She rescued the babes in that fire and kept the bandits from leaving. She's not at fault for the fires even if she looks like she would be."

The soldier recognized Hercules and gave him a firm handshake. "I take it you know these women?" He asked motioning to Tracey who was still calming the toddlers.

"Yes. We're escorting them to Delphi, they're good women."

"Well," The soldier gave them all a thoughtful look. "If you vouch for them. It was good work catching the bandits."

Hercules nodded and the soldier left with his men. The Healer had gotten the toddlers father up on his feet and he was comforting his children and starting to process the loss of his wife. Artemis raised her hands and quieted the fires gathering them into herself. She was breathing hard and her face was flushed when she'd finished but she looked satisfied, Hercules was standing his arms folded while he watched her. "What were you thinking? Were you going to burn them alive if you didn't like their answer?"

She frowned at him hands landing on her hips. "Excuse me?"

"Were you planning on burning them alive if you didn't like their answer? That's not Justice Artemis, that would have made you as bad as them."

Iolaus stepped in front of his friend between him and Artemis. "Take it easy Herc, she wasn't going to burn them alive." He looked at her. "Were you?"

She scoffed and started to throw her hands up before she stopped, cautious about launching fireballs into the air. "I was trying to terrify them. Sometimes a good scare will keep them from doing this shit again!"

"That's not your job." Hercules snapped.

"It's not yours to save every hapless soul who comes along but you try anyway." She retorted.

"That's different." He snapped.

Artemis's jaw clenched and Iolaus decided to defuse the situation before it got explosive. He hurried over to Artemis and took her elbow leading her away from Hercules into the woods. "Come on Art, I'll show you this quiet spot I know." He cast a look towards Tracey asking her to try and calm his buddy down.

Artemis let him lead her away her eyes blazing with frustration but she held her flames at bay keeping them from burning Iolaus. Having left the children with their father and trying to give them a few words of comfort, Tracey joined them right as Iolaus was leading Artemis off to a secluded spot in the woods where she supposed it would be quiet and she could regain her composure, but she did arrive just in time to hear Hercules's comment and a frown darkened her facial features. A little temper flared up as she stepped around Hercules's broad frame and crossed her arms over her chest, feet planted evenly beneath her. She had caught Iolaus's look to try and calm Hercules, but at the moment she wasn't feeling calm and up to it.

"The fact that you would even suggest such a thing is unbelieveable." She stated angrily. "You don't know us well enough to think that we would openly take a life."

She looked to Artemis retreating form as the dark shadows swallowed her and Iolaus up and shook her head.

"Artemis's solution here was the best course of action to take without taking their lives. If taking life can be avoided than that's the course we will take. Everyone in this world suffers, but that doesn't mean we'll judge them and take lives needlessly when there's enough people who do that already...

Tracey turned and started back for the Inn, not even really sparing a glance over her shoulder at Hercules.

"I have a feeling that Artemis is going to agree with me, but she and I will be leaving in the morning for Delphi... alone."

Hercules groaned and ran a hand over his face trying to reign in his own temper as she walked away.

Iolaus led Artemis to a small clearing with a large flat rock in the middle. He urged her to sit down on it and crouched down in front of her watching her face. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, when the flames of her crown had lowered to a soft butter yellow he spoke. "I'm sorry Herc reacted like that. He's used to being the one to make those choices and he's seen a lot of good people do very bad things when they get power or when they see senseless death."

Artemis opened her eyes and he stared at just how dark they were. There was such depth to them that it took him a second or two to pull himself out of them and back on track. "He forgets that people are as strong as he is in their own way."

She took her crown off and ran her hands through her hair with a sigh. "He wasn't entirely wrong. I wanted to burn them to ash to be sure they'd never do that to another family. It would have been so easy." She swallowed hard and he put his hand on hers.

"But you didn't. You ever stopped your own gesture back there to keep from throwing fireballs into the air. It can't be easy having to censor your every move and keep track of your every thought so you don't set something on fire by accident and you've only had these powers for 2 days. That's impressive. Herc is just used to people misusing even the mortal power they have."

Artemis snorted. "Oh trust me, I understand way way too well what mere mortals can do to each other. You know I used to be a healer in my world. An Emergency Healer, I took the injured and dying to hospitals to be treated. There are so many more people in my time and it seems like the more people there are in the world the more pain and misery they cause but I alway tried to help, to save lives."

He rubbed small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb marveling at how slender they seemed. "I worked so hard to hold my temper, to not let the rage I was feeling feed the flames and he accused me of…" She stopped and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes rubbing them and clearing her throat. "I just expected things to be a little different."

She gave a watery laugh and looked up at the sky blinking fast trying not to cry. "Hell I dunno what I expected but it wasn't this."

He tugged on her hands and she looked at him. "Herc can be a hot tempered bonehead sometimes. That's why he has me. You have Tracey to keep you level but if you need me to be there for you too I can do that." He gave her a lopsided grin and was gratified to see her return it. She hugged him suddenly and he returned the gesture still surprised at the flames that licked around them but didn't burn him.

"Thank you Iolaus." She murmured in his ear before letting him go.

"Hey, no problem. Helping pretty girls is kinda what I do." He replied with a cheeky smile.

She chuckled and picked up her crown settling it back on her head. "Aww and here I thought I was special." She gave him a flirty smile.

She stoody and they started back to the inn. 'Oh you are Arti. I just wish I could show you how special.' He thought following her through the darkening woods.

After having gotten back to the inn, without really caring if Hercules had walked back with her or not, Tracey paced in anger up in their room for a good hour before a knock on the door sounded. It was one of the serving girls from downstairs bringing her some fruit, bread and cheese, which she had asked to be brought up to her so she wouldn't have to eat downstairs and so she wouldn't have to see Hercules and fume at him more. Up here in the room that she'd be sharing with Artemis, she at least had some peace and quiet to think about things and to eat without her thoughts being interrupted and without things downstairs getting too crazy and give her headaches. At present she was sitting on her bed, finishing the last of her food and setting the plate aside with a sigh.

"That was totally uncalled for..." She muttered, a little frustration rising to the surface again. "He had no right to judge us at all... it's not even like we wanted to be sent here at all. Hm, we could have been sent, kind of almost feels like we were... god I'm too tired to even think about that right now. I need a bath."

Thank goodness there was an adjoining bathroom in their room, it was hidden behind a screen of reeds in a wooden frame. The tub she filled with hot water from the heating buckets sitting by the fireplace and then she grabbed two clean towels, a fresh bar of soap, and bathing oil from another girl at the inn as she passed to deliver more towels to other inn occupants. Setting these aside, Tracey stripped down from her clothes, folded them and put them on a chair next to the tub she was about to slip into. The hot water washed over her smooth skin and a shiver ran over all of her body, chasing away all tiredness and cold from her bones. She allowed herself to soak for a few minutes before vanishing beneath the surface to wet her hair and start washing it with the oils. Tracey used the soap bar and a washcloth to scrub away the grime of the day and clean off the dirt from the fight.

"I needed this." She said out loud to no one in particular. "I hope Artemis is okay... she should bathe tonight too, this will refresh her."

Hercules had gone back to the inn and was sipping a cup of fruit juice while he tried to think his way out of the mess he'd found himself in. Tracey had been right that he'd over reacted but he couldn't seem to pin down why he'd done it. He was so lost in thought he felt the heat of Artemis's flames before he saw her. She sat down across from him a glass of wine in hand. She propped her chin in her hand. "Ok so here's what I think. You're the son of Zeus and your immortal relatives have made your life generally miserable so you think 'hey look at me I'm a half god who's going to prove that being semi divine won't make me a bad person' but whoopsie he turns out to have a few prejudices of his own and double whoopsie he sometimes takes them out on people who haven't done anything to deserve it and whoopsie number threesie he sometimes makes the same mistakes as the idiot family members he hates."

He felt his stomach sink as her points hit home one after another and she took a sip of her drink. When she spoke again it was in a kinder tone. "It's ok Hercules. It hurt, I was upset but I get why you did it. I'm still a little mad about it and since Tracey isn't here with you I'm sure she's wicked pissed. I'm just asking you to try to set aside your anger towards your family and let those of us with Gifts we didn't ask for show you that we're generally good people. It's all choices and sometimes choices suck but it's all we've got. Can you please give me the chance to show you that my choices are going to be good ones?"

He nodded and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I thought the worst of you. It was not fair of me. You've never shown me that you would misuse your power. You held back with the mercenaries on the road and I shouldn't have expected that you'd choose differently here." He held out a hand and she slipped her much smaller hand into his and shook it.

"I'm going to go find Tracey and see if I can calm her down." She said standing.

"She told me you two would be traveling to Delphi alone." He said.

She paused. "We just might. It's a choice that will have to be made and we'll all have to live with the consequences of those choices. In the end Free Will is all we have."

She smiles slightly and left him sitting in the Common Room with his drink, her cape of fire flowing behind her. Iolaus sat down across from him and picked up the wine she'd left. "She's something else isn't she?"

"She's just what this world needs." Hercules replied sipping his juice and thinking about the hard truths she'd dished out.


	4. Chapter 3: The Choices they Made

Artemis found Tracey sitting in the room they would share in the Inn. A medium sized black bird with blue markings perched on the sill playing a strange game of fetch with her friend who was tossing a shell for the bird to retrieve and bring back to her. She leaned against the door frame watching until she saw Tracey's ears twitch and knew her friend was aware of her. "He's a pretty bird. Did you make a new friend?" She asked softly.

Slowly Tracey turned her head toward the door after she threw the beautiful light blue and sea green shell across the bed for the pretty and soft bird to retrieve, and a small, lopsided grin touching her lips. The plain fabric of the night gown she wore rustled only slightly as she shifted on the bed and sat back a little to cross her legs under her. The bird chirped and hobbled back over to her side and dropped the shell back in her lap, trying to get her attention again by rubbing her hand with its beak and head. Tracey looked down at the bird and her smile grew a little wider as she took her fingers and gently ran them over the top of the black bird's head and scratched the back of his neck until he fluffed up twice his normal size, looking like an overgrown soot sprite.

"This is Nargis." She answered, rubbing her fingers against the black bird's chest and letting him step up onto her hand so she could hold him close and continued to stroke his soft feathers. "We met this evening after I finished my bath and brought me a little present... He's quite sweet and is so soft."

She looked up and smiled again. "Glad to see that Iolaus was able to calm you a bit, I'm guessing you saw Hercules and talked everything out... though he didn't have any right to say anything or judge our actions before getting to know us better."

Nargis cawed and flapped his wings before settling again, hopping and scooting his way up to her shoulder. "Yes you are right Nargis." Tracey said softly, giving the bird a scratch beneath the chin and watching as the bird closed his eyes. "Even though Nargis and I can't communicate well like you and I can, I'm beginning to sense what he's trying to do. Like right now, he's trying to comfort and make me smile... it's working."

Artemis took off her crown and grabbed a large metal basin to set it inside. She detached the cape of flames and coiled it inside the bowl as well. "No he didn't have the right and yes he and I did speak. He apologized and while I haven't forgiven him I'm not going to hold a grudge." She stripped off the harem pants with their strips of flames and coiled them inside the bowl as well so she could sit on the bed in just her leggings and corset without setting the bedding on fire.

She sighed and reached out a hand to take Tracey's. "How are you holding up? With all I've been dealing with I haven't had a chance to ask you."

Nargis chirped, shuffled down Tracey's arm again, and inspected Artemi's hand, chirping again and brushing his wing against her skin. A light laugh escaped from Tracey and she nodded to the silly black bird. Nargis chirped again as if to show his approval of Artemis and proceeded to sing softly to them.

"If I'm to be honest Arty, I'm a little concerned by it all." Tracey answered slowly. "What I want to know is what force could be so powerful as to reach and stretch through not only time, but reality itself and pluck us out of our own time to dump us here? I'm not saying that I don't like the scenery here, but I'm worried that we won't be able to go home to our own time."

She paused to take a breath and continued. "Though I have to say I don't feel quite as powerless with our new abilities here, but they do take some getting used too."

"I've been thinking about who would have that kind of power but the thing is this time period is a lot closer to its magic than ours is. It hasn't had hundreds of generations to lose ground to Christianity. I mean come on, the Gods actually walk amongst mortals here." She flopped back on the bed and smiled when Nargis hopped over to peer down at her. "It could be Kronos, or Zeus, or Hades or a combination of any number of them, or it might not even be the Greek Gods at all. That's why I suggested going to the Oracle at Delphi. We just don't have enough information."

"Speaking of the Oracle..." Tracey started, tucking her feet closer to her body. "I was figuring that we'd just get directions and go by alone. It's already apparent that we can take care of ourselves and if we can find someone who could sell us horses for the right price then the trip will go by faster and we can get our answers a lot sooner."

She looked off thoughtfully, wondering if there was any way for them to actually get the horses and what they would pay for them with. They didn't have any money but it's not like they wouldn't be able to get a job, because there was always someone needing workers in a large town or whatnot.

"If you really want to strike out on our own we can but we don't know the customs. I'm on fire and you're an elf so we're sure to attract a huge amount of attention and if you think the big guy is going to let us wander around by ourselves you're dreaming. He'd either insist on coming with us since it's 'On his way' or they'd follow us at a discreet distance and try to rescue us when things inevitably go tits up." Artemis teased Nargis with a stand of her hair while she spoke.

The fluffy bird chirpped and tried to snap at her dark hair with his sharp beak, nearly catching it on a few occasions, but missing the rest of the time. He ended up fluffing himself up into a mess of black feathers and cawed loudly to her in frustration. Tracey couldn't help but laugh out loud at him and her mood lightened up a lot.

"Yeah, you're right there. They'd follow us in hopes that they could save us and curry our favor I suppose." She scoffed and laid back on the bed with a sigh. "Fine they can come with us... but another comment like those he made before at the house and I'll give Poseidon and Trident a run for their money."

Artemis gave a wry smile and let Nargis snag the strand. "Of that I have no doubt. I think I might be able to manage some sleep tonight." She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Tracey nodded in agreement and pointed to the thin, reed screen in which hid the tub.

"Use the bath tub. I'm sure you'll be able to heat your own water, but it will do wonders for you. I found it to be refreshing and cleansing."

Nargis flapped his wings in victory, chirped loudly and hopped back to Tracey, receiving many a scratches under the chin and along his back. She let him hang out on the headboard of her bed while she climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her. As soon as Artemis was ready to sleep she'd make room for her so she could get some much needed sleep.

Artemis took a quick bath and washed her leggings, bra and underwear using a little power to dry them before putting them back on. She crawled into bed with Tracey and passed out.

When Hercules knocked at dawn the next morning he didn't expect to see Artemis wearing a bright red bra and a pair of sleek black leggings. Her hair was a tousled mess around her face and she looked decidedly grumpy at having been woken at dawn but she refrained from being rude. "Give us a few minutes to get dressed, can you find something fruity for breakfast?"

He nodded trying not to stare at her or Tracey who was wearing a very short night dress and trying to find her socks. Artemis closed the door gently and groaned. "Too damned early… Nargis that's my ribbon, please give it back."

Once they were dressed and Artemis had donned her cape and crown they walked to the Inn's common room where Hercules had bowls of fruit and milk waiting. "My hero." Artemis muttered and started eating.

Running her hands through her black hair, Tracey tied it back up in a ponytail and sat down next to Artemis. She slowly picked the fruit that she was going to eat and sipped at her milk. Nargis chirped quietly from her shoulder, head bobbing around and keeping an eye on everything that moved around them and himself. She didn't feel like talking much this morning.

"Sorry for jumping down your throat last night." She muttered, only glancing up at Hercules for a moment before turning back to her fruit. "Artemis is like a sister to me and I don't like anyone talking bad about her, I'm just overprotective of her."

Tracey offered Nargis a grape and watched as he took it delicately in his talons and held it down against her shoulder as he pecked at it and downed it quickly. She took a medium sized loaf of bread from a passing serving girl and broke off several small pieces for the bird and wrapped up the rest to save for later, some of the fruit she also wrapped up to save so they could eat while they walked to Delphi. She'd like to get a knapsack before they left so she and Artemis could pick up a few of the essentials along the way, she had a feeling that they would be needed at some point.

Hercules nodded and watched her bird for a moment. "I understand. And I apologize for my attitude last night."

Tracey nodded and looked to Nargis eating his food.

"This is Nargis. I don't quite know how he and I came to find each other, but he's sweet and he comforts me." She said, noticing that he was looking at the bird. "I guess we are all going to Delphi together... if we didn't Arty and I know you and Iolaus would follow us anyway and you know we're right."

Iolaus plopped down next to Hercules and chuckled while Hercules just gave a small smile and shook his head. "It's not a hard conclusion to come to."

Artemis got up and went to the innkeeper, she talked to him for a few minutes while he looked stunned and a little worried. After a moment he handed her a large knapsack stuffed pul

and she poured a ball of fire into a bowl. It stayed burning even with no fuel and the light breeze from the door didn't even make it flicker. When she went back to the table she handed Tracey the Knapsack. "Here you go hon. Food for the road in exchange for a ball of never ending fire."

Looking from the knapsack to Artemis and then to the fire ball in the bowl that the innkeeper was taking back to the kitchens, Tracey had to smile and nod in approval.

"How long did it take you to figure that little trick out my sweet?" She asked and tucked the sack in between them so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

"Not long. Since anything is possible, everything is possible and since I have control over fire it's completely possible for me to create a ball of fire that doesn't need fuel and never dies. A lot of magic is just believing you can do something. The more volatile the magic the more difficult it is to make that stick but that's the basic principle." Artemis finished off her meal and sat back sipping her drink.

"Ah, I see." Tracey replied with a slight smile. "If we could do that for for everyone we met in exchange for food or shelter than this could solve a few of our problems. It would also help those who need it most."

She was already starting to think of ways that they could help people on their road to Delphi, much like Hercules and Iolaus did while they traveled all over Greece. Taking a moment more to finish off her fruit and giving Nargis a scratch on the back of her head, Tracey strapped the knapsack diagonally over her shoulder and made sure it was secured there. She looked to each of them and then downed her milk, careful not to end up with a milk mustache.

"If there isn't anything else to do here than I guess we should get started."

Their days went in a similar fashion, they would travel until dark, stopping occasionally to rest and eat before stopping at dark. If they could stay at an Inn they did, but more often than not they camped out in the wilderness. It wasn't until they were two days travel from Delphi that the ran into trouble again. It was early in the morning and Tracey and Artemis were taking a few minutes to bathe in the nearby river. Artemis had just finished dressing when she heard hooves on the hard riverbed upstream. "Tracey, Hide behind the rock, over there." She hissed pointing to the rock in the middle of the slow moving river.

She looked worried at the number of hoof beats she could hear and she hid Tracey's clothes under a bush. "Don't argue, just hide." She snapped sensing Tracey's intent to just get out of the river.

Upon hearing the urgency in Artemis's voice, Tracey moved quickly in the water and hide her naked body amongst the reeds and rocks in the river. She didn't like feeling this way and right now she was feeling really vulnerable and she didn't like it. Tracey crouched down until the water passed just over her chest and looked around to make sure nothing could see her from her hiding place. She listened intensely to the thundering of hooves and whinny of horses as they drew closer.

"Arty be careful." She said before thinking to herself. 'What the hell is going on!?'

"Well well, look what we have here." A deep voice intoned as the hooves came to a stop by where she knew Artemis was standing.

"From the looks of things we have a herd of 4 legged rednecks." Artemis snarked back and Tracey could hear the angry grumbles and mutters.

"What did you call us?" The leader with the deep voice asked.

"I'm sorry, I misspoke. I meant to call you a bunch of fly bitten bronies." Artemis replied scathingly and Tracey could tell she was trying to give Tracey a hint of what they were dealing with without saying it outloud in case they guessed she was there with someone else.

"Bitch."

Artemis laughed and Tracey heard the flames of her crown and cape crackle as they grew. "Oh, you'll have to try harder if you actually want to insult me."

"How about if we just want to kill you." Another pissed off voice growled.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight of you and one of me. Oh boo hoo what is a girl to do?" Artemis said with a fake sob and she heard a whoosh of flame and a small explosion as a fireball landed in the dirt but Tracey kept the number in mind, Artemis had just told her how many assailants there were.

There was a commotion and then a sickening thud. "Wrap her up. Draxxus will pay good money for something as hot as her." The first voice snarled and she heard another sickening thud and a pained groan. There was movement and then the hoof beats started up again going back the way they came in short order.

Tracey listened for a good long while and counted to twenty-five very slowly to make sure the men were really gone. Carefully she pushed through the reeds and moved cautiously in the water, peeking out over the rocks and noting that the coast was clear. Her clothes weren't in her line of sight and she prayed that she could find them before anyone found her in the river. Tracey started to look for them, but instead of finding them, she saw the horse hoof prints and they looked larger than normal horses.

"Artemis said they were bronies..." She started then finished her statement. "Centaurs! Four-legged, horses, and bronies! Shit! And She hid my clothes!"

Carefully sliding back down into the water, Tracey looked around her and hoped the only two people around would be the ones she called for and not another trouble maker. She covered her chest and crouched as far down as she could and sighed, not liking the situation she was in.

"Hercules! Iolaus! I could use your help for a moment! Hurry!" She called, a slightly embarrassed and the blush on her cheeks was going to tell all of her embarrassment.

She heard running footsteps and saw Hercules jogging towards the river, Iolaus a little behind. "Tracey, where are you?" Hercules called looking around.

"I'm here!" Tracey replied, only allowing her head to peek around the rocks. "Artemis has been taken somewhere and we need to go after her! But I can't because she hid my clothes to keep whoever took her from suspecting that she had someone else with her... Please find my clothes before I make some out of reeds."

Nargis, who had flown in behind Hercules, chirped insistently at him and then landed on the rock behind which Tracey was hiding and spread his wings wide as if to shield the rest of her naked body from sight, though it was only her shoulders and head that could be seen above the water. "Please hurry!"

Hercules and Iolaus both averted their eyes and started looking for her clothes. They found them pretty quickly under the bush. "Who took Artemis? Did you see which way they went?" Iolaus asked as he set her cloths on a rock on the bank and they both turned their backs so she could get dressed.

Tracey quickly scampered out of the water and waved her hands over her body, the water following her movements until her body dry. The water she dumped on the ground around her and she grabbed her clothes, wasting no time to clothe herself, the blush on her cheeks deepening a little bit more. She didn't even bother to comb out her hair with her fingers or put it up in a ponytail before she put on her ankle high boots with a slight heel to them.

"Centaurs took her and from what I heard from my hiding spot, they went back up the way they came." She said quickly, Nargis descending lightly onto her shoulder. "Who is Draxxus?!"

Hercules and Iolaus turned back around. "Draxxus is a guy who can get you anything you want if you aren't too fussy about how he gets it." Iolaus replied running his hands through his hair. "How many centaurs?"

"Artemis counted out eight... using a movie back in our time to quote from." Tracey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Typical Arty."

She took the knapsack they had brought with them and looped it diagonally over her shoulder. "Where should we start looking for Artemis?! We have to get her back!"

Tracey was starting to get a little frantic now, after having heard the aggressive shuffle between the centaurs and her best friend, she had cause for worry.

"Eight?" Hercules seemed surprised. "Thats a lot of Centaurs to take one woman. Draxxus must have been aware of how powerful she is. He usually only uses four at a time. Centaurs do not work cheap."

Iolaus was looking at the riverbed and pointed to the west, away from their current path. "Looks like they're taking her to Aetolia."

"Those bastards have at least a thirty minute head start and how could he possibly know about us? We just got here a week at the very least... who could possibly have told him about us?" Tracey asked, pushing her hair back out of her face.

"Having horses would make this so much easier to catch up with them."

Tracey put her hands on her hips and sighed in irritation, beginning to pace back and forth. Nargis started to chirp at her, brushing his pinion feathers against her cheek to try and calm her fears. In a fit of irritation, Tracey stomped her foot in the dirt, causing the earth to shudder slightly. She was surprised but ignored it, her thoughts completely focused on getting Artemis back and need starting to drive her forward. "We don't have time to be waiting around here, let's go."

She was about to start up the riverside again, in the direction that Iolaus had pointed to when she stopped. Quiet whinnies sounded from the West and suddenly three horses came around the bend in the road. Bare were their backs of saddles and no bridles kept them bound in servitude. They pranced up to them and halted, heads bobbing and tails flicking from side to side as they danced in place and waited for them. Tracey only eyed them, a slight smile coming to her lips as she stepped forward, toward the stallion in front of her and held out her hand to him, waiting for him to touch her. It was a sign of respect for him, but also for her. Tracey felt an almost instant connection to the stallion and her smile grew.

"My need... this gentle leader must have sensed my urgency and came to help." Tracey said quietly, completely in awe as she gently stroked the horse's high cheekbone.

She missed the look that passed between Hercules and Iolaus but they each mounted a horse and spurring them forward they raced after the Centaurs. They reached a hard packed dirt road and Iolaus had to dismount and start examining the road for tracks. "Still going west." He said remounting and they turned up the road and kept going. After a half mile Iolaus stopped them again. The dirt was churned up and when he examined the area he found ash and blood mixed into the dirt. His features pinched at the amount of blood he found but there was no way to know whose blood it was. He remounted but decided to keep the blood to himself. "There's ash on the road. Artemis must be fighting back. If they make it to Aetolia first though we'll lose them. The Centaurs hand the merchandise off to a human middleman and hide out in the woods."

"Do you think they're going to try and ambush anyone who could be following them?" Tracey asked, starting to look to the trees as if she was expecting the centaurs to jump out at them at any given time. "Artemis is a fighter, she won't go down without fighting back tooth and nail."

She leaned down close to her stallion's neck and patted him praisingly. He had done well to spirit them forward and he and his followers were swifter than any she had ridden in her world, their long strides carrying them swiftly toward Aetolia.

Hercules shook his head. "They won't do anything unless they get paid to. Ambushing travelers isn't in their job description."

They had to slow to a canter as the hours wore on, their quarry always just far enough ahead that they couldn't catch up. They had to stop again at a crossroads where the sign was still smoldering but there was more blood, enough that Tracey saw it this time. The tracks still pointed to Aetolia and they kept going. They finally came into sight of the city and Tracey's heart sank, the horse balked and wouldn't step foot any closer to the city and she could sense that they were agitated and wary of cities. The Stallion Tracey rode, pranced again and reared, making her lean forward against his neck and grip his mane with her hands and his sides with her thighs until he set back down on the ground again. She dismounted and stroked the horse's neck, comforting him and nudging him back.

"Thank you for your swiftness and your heart my friend. You have my gratitude." She said, kissing the horse's nose.

The horse nickered and nudged her shoulder before neighing to the other two and turning and galloped away. Dirt sprayed out from under their hooves as they disappeared.

"That was a lot of blood..." Tracey trailed off. "I suggest proceeding with caution and don't even say anything about me staying behind because it's not going to happen."

Hercules and Iolaus glanced at each other and Hercules took a deep breath. "I'm not going to suggest you stay behind but you really stand out and we need to blend in as much as we can. We can't go in tonight. We're going to camp out in the woods tonight and Iolaus is going to find you a cloak before we go in tomorrow." He wanted to reach out to her but hesitated.

Tracey let out a deep breath of frustration and let her shoulders slump tiredly. Nargis had kept pace with the horses while they rode, but now that they didn't need the horses any more, he lighted down and perched on her shoulder. Absently she scratched under his chin before nodding with another sigh. "Alright, but what are the chances that we'll get Artemis back?"

Iolaus jumped in patting her shoulder. "Pretty good. Draxxus doesn't have any use for a dead fire sorceress. And she's a fighter and strong. I'll bet all that blood was from some centaur who's missing a finger or an ear or if her teeth are as sharp as her tongue he's probably missing a chunk of hide." He gave her a lopsided smile trying to reassure her.

Tracey's eyebrow rose as she gave him a skeptical look and blinked tiredly.

"She's not that morbid but you do have a point... thanks Iolaus."

Looking to the trees and the bushes that surrounded them, she didn't sense anything hostile and proceeded into the cover of the trees until she found an ideal spot for them to camp for the night. She busied herself with collecting firewood so they could have it on hand even if they didn't use it. Tracey then sat down on the ground and blinked slowly, tons of thoughts racing through her mind... even the possibility that she could slip into the city without getting caught and finding Artemis on her own without Hercules and Iolaus.

'What are we going to do?' She asked herself before looking at Hercules and Iolaus in turn. "What are you planning on doing tomorrow after we get a cloak and blend in?"

"We're going to talk to the street kids." Iolaus replied digging through the knapsack for food. "Street kids see everything." He stuffed a piece of cheese into his mouth and offered her some. "If they don't know anything we'll talk to the beggars and then the merchants. It's harder to hide stuff in a city than you'd think."

Tracey looked from the Iolaus to the cheese he offered her and shook her head. She couldn't eat right now and thinking about Arty and the state she could've been in made her less inclined to eat anything till the situation at hand was resolved.

"Not to be a negative Nancy, but what's your plan B?" She asked, tucking her legs closer to her chest. "I don't like sitting still... especially not now."

"Our plan B is to find the middleman and make him take us to Draxxus. But that's loud, messy and incredibly dangerous. So we'll hold off until we don't turn up anything from asking the street folk." Hercules replied eyeing her shrewdly. "For now try to get some rest. He won't kill her and if she's injured he'll make sure a healer treats her. She's more valuable to him alive."

"If you say so." Tracey replied quietly, laying down on her side and resting her head on her arm.

She was careful not to poke herself with her ears and kept her legs close to her body. The low burning fire they had started was perfectly hidden from any eyes that might be able to spy them from the city and its walls. Tracey watched the flames for a long time before closing her eyes to sleep. Hercules and Iolaus took turns keeping watch and then after a time she started to stir from her sleep and looked up to see Hercules had taken a turn to keep watch. Quietly Tracey brushed off dirt from her clothes and came to his side, reaching out to lay a hand gently on his arm.

"I'll take the rest of the night shift Hercules, I can't sleep anyway." She said softly with a small sigh.

Nargis, who had been sleeping with his head under his wing, in a tree not too far from their little campsite, now chirped tiredly and fluffed himself up until he was a rather large, black soot sprite. He alighted down from his perch and greeted Tracey with chirps as if to say 'good morning'. She held out a hand to him, he obliged and quickly scampered on his clawed feet up her arm to her shoulder where she could scratch him affectionately.

'Though your plan is a good one Hercules, it's too slow and we need to move quickly.' She thought, sitting down on a stump and looking outward to the shadows in the trees. The sky was turning grey in the east when Iolaus woke and crept out of the camp and towards the town motioning her to stay put. He came back about half an hour later with a dark gray cloak and a dark blue scarf. "Well go in as soon as Hercules wakes up." He said softly handing her the garments and sitting by the embers of the fire. "You should eat something, it's going to be a long hard day."

"Okay, but under protest." Tracey muttered, pushing back her hair and her eyes with her fingers.

She was tired but she couldn't sleep, not without knowing that Artemis was safe. If anything happened to her then she would be completely and utterly alone without any way of getting home... that's what scared her the most. She took the cloak and scarf and fingered the fabric, instantly thinking of Arty and sighing heavily. She quickly wrapped the scarf around her head and hid her pointed ears from sight. The cloak she tied around her shoulders and left the hood down before she dug around in the knapsack for some fruit and bread, they were two of a few foods that wouldn't spoil while the traveler was on the move. She handed out the bread and cheese to Iolaus as she nibbled on the bread first.

"If what happened with the horses yesterday can help today, I'll see if any of the local dogs can help us." Tracey said in between pieces of bread. "We have to find her today."

Iolaus watched her while he ate. He reached over and touched her shoulder making her look at him. "Tell me about her. What would she do if she were attacked or imprisoned? I know she's strong and defiant but she's been trained. Do you know in what? Has she ever been in battle?"

"If you consider Life a battle then yes she's seen battle and she'd definitely try to get free." Tracey replied, swallowing her mouthful of bread. "Artemis would fight with everything she had, she must be restrained otherwise she'd burn them to a crisp. After being trained and having several black belts in many different forms of martial arts, she's not one to go down without swinging and swinging hard."

"Is she the kind of person to try to talk them into letting her go?" He asked in between bites of cheese.

Tracey had to laugh quietly, fits of giggles nearly made her fall of the stump she still sat on. "She might try, but she'd rather figure a way out on her own."

Iolaus smiled. "Not the diplomatic type I suppose. We'll see if the street kids and the beggars know where they might be holding her. We can also try using your knack with animals but Aetolia is a huge city. We might not find her today, or even tomorrow. I know you're worried, she's your partner, like Hercules is mine but starving yourself and not sleeping won't help her." He looked over behind her and she knew Hercules was awake.

"Finally..." She muttered, not really caring if Iolaus heard her or not. "Nargis, I need you my friend."

The bird chirped as if he was listening and she quickly whispered some hasty words to him and then she gently pushed him upward, helping to give him lift so he could fly away. Tracey watched him fly away and then her ears twitched at other faint sounds that drifted over the wind. A small smile crossed over her lips and she nodded at her slight victory. Several other birds suddenly flew over them, traveling toward the city to help with the search.

"The birds are going to help us... Can we please go now?"

Iolaus and Hercules exchanged a glance and they headed into the city. Iolaus and Hercules split up, Iolaus went with Tracey and Hercules went in another direction by himself, they had made arrangements to meet up at the fountain in the city square at noon. Tracey could feel the birds searching the air and all the hidden places only they could reach but so far they hadn't turned up anything. Iolaus was asking beggars and street kids while Tracey asked dogs, cats and even rats for help.

Meanwhile Artemis woke on a filthy floor covered in a length of soaking wet fabric that was tied tightly around her, her crown was sitting in a metal bowl on a table on the other side of the room separated from her by thick iron bars. A steady flow of water kept her and the thick canvas wrapped around her soaked and she was shivering. She struggled to sit up and groaned, her head was pounding, someone had clubbed her hard in the head and her ribs burned from the kickings she'd gotten fighting the centaurs. Somehow she managed to get herself upright and saw that she'd been laying on a grate that drained away the excess water so she didn't drown. She heard a sound nearby and looked over to see a large man of indeterminate age sitting at a table. He was lean with sharp features that screamed aristocracy and intelligence. "Well well, finally awake. I thought those four legged morons had damaged you permanently."

"I take it… that you're the one who… arranged this little get together?" She asked trying breath through the pain in her head and ribs.

"After a fashion." He replied. "I was asked to procure you. It is my client who arranged it, for a rather immodest sum."

"They asked for me specifically?" Artemis was starting to pull her wits together.

"You and your lovely companion. We missed her but got you, a disappointment for sure but I'm sure we'll get her too sooner or later." He poured a glass of wine and sipped at it.

"So who is this mystery client? If he'd wanted to meet he could have just asked." Artemis surreptitiously tried to loosen her bindings but when that failed she tried to burn them free only to muffle a hiss when the wet canvas steamed and actually burned her.

He chuckled. "So heat can hurt you, if it's mixed with water. Such a weakness for a fire witch."

"Sadistic taunting, a refreshing change from megalomaniacal monologs. So do you have a name genius? She asked sarcastically.

"You can call me Draxxus. And in my time I am a genius, you'd do well to remember that. Now if you'll excuse me I have business to attend. Try not to die. That would thoroughly ruin my day." He gave her an infuriating smirk and left her sitting under a stream of water. Looking up at the ceiling revealed that the ceiling was pocked with holes which started dripping like a slow cold rain ensuring that no mater where she rolled in the room she would keep being soaked.

"Well fuck my life." She growled and started trying to find a way to loosen the canvas.

Noon came and went with no sightings of Draxxus or Artemis from the street kids or the beggars and even the animals had struck out for Tracey. Night fell and Hercules insisted that they leave the city to camp again. Tracey gave the city a long and hard look before she nodded and pulled the hood further over her head. Together they all left the city and returned to their campsite, she in particular felt thoroughly defeated and she knew that she was going to have to release some stress before she talked to anyone. Depositing the cloak and the knapsack on the ground where she had laid before last night, Tracey didn't say anything to Hercules and Iolaus and left for the river. Nargis let out a few chirps, trying to comfort her, but when he saw that it didn't help he followed her. He perched in a nearby tree and watched Tracey as she took off her slightly heeled shoes and wade into the river up to her knees. She stood there for several long minutes before she held hands over the water and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. The water rushed passed her knees and occasionally it would bring a few leaves passed her skin, causing it to tingle.

"I have to calm down and breath..." Tracey said softly, taking another deep breath and letting it out.

With her fingers splayed, Tracey first extended her right hand out to her right side and then brought it back to her middle. As her hand came back, Tracey repeated it with her left hand until both hands flowed together at the same time. Bringing them back to her middle yet again, Tracey then followed through with the rest of her body, this time she herself moved, shifting her weight to and fro with the water as it moved passed her legs. Several moments passed and she still kept this motion up, the water starting to contort and move with her. Tracey seemed not to notice the waters movements and then her motions became more sharp and jerky, her hands whipping back and then suddenly forward again. The water snapped like a whip and it suddenly sliced through a few reeds, cutting them cleanly in half.

She slowly felt the water and the exercises wash the stress away. She could feel fish in the water and small animals around the river. Nargis was chirping some soft song at her while she used water whips to trim the reeds. She eventually became aware that Hercules was watching her from the river bank, a torch standing upright in the soft earth. She hadn't realized just how dark it had gotten while she was working through her emotional turmoil. He looked tired and worried and she realized that in his own way he was as worried for her friend as she was. "How long have you been standing there?" Tracey asked quietly, letting her hands fall and slowly making her way to the shore so as to not slip on the algae covered rocks.

The sand was cold beneath her feet and gritty between her toes as she walked over to her shoes. Sitting down on the rocks, Tracey manipulated the water to wash over her feet to clean them free of sand and moisture before she was able to skip her shoes back on. "Not long." He said quietly. "I realized you'd left without a light, and I was worried that you might go back into the city to keep searching in the dark." He offered her the cloak again and she realized it was getting cold.

Tracey nodded, leaned forward, and took the cloak from him, wrapping it around her shoulders and securing it. She looked at Hercules and studied him for a few minutes before sighing.

"Would you blame me if I did go back into the city for Artemis? Even in the dark it seems that I can see better than most." She stated, crossing her hands over her chest. "I think you would do the same for Iolaus or anyone else you called friend."

He shifted over on the bolder and motioned for her to sit with him. "No, I wouldn't blame you, in fact Iolaus and I would go back in with you. If it were Iolaus taken I'd be frantic too but I'm going to ask you not to go back into the city right now. We've drawn a lot of attention to ourselves today and it's really risky going back in at night. It's harder to see attacks coming and we might not be able to keep track of where we've already searched at night. I'm tired, you're tired, Iolaus is exhausted. We need food, and rest."

Tracey had leaned back against the rock face and kept her arms crossed over her chest while she listened to his explanation. On the inside she was tired of waiting. It was like waiting for one of their conventions and she had the pre-con jitters which usually resulted in butt vomits and queasy stomachs, both were equally unpleasant to her and Artemis.

"You always make good points." She said tiredly and pushed back her hair from her face. "I'll ask the animals to help us again, but you're right we need to sleep. If it makes you feel better then I promise not to go back without you or Iolaus."

Nargis chirped and wheeled down to her shoulder, brushing his feathers against her cheek and receiving loving scratches beneath the chin and in between his wings. This caused him to fluff up again and Tracey smiled.

Hercules rested a hand gently on her shoulder and she was reminded of just how big he was, she could sense his hesitation to offer more comfort but it made her feel better knowing that he sympathized with her plight. "It does make me feel a little better."

Tracey deflated and gave him a soft smile and nodded, unfolding her arms and letting them fall to her sides. Nargis chirped and rubbed his head against her cheek.

"Alright... Thank you Hercules. Having you and Iolaus around has really helped us to keep our sanity since we've been in Greece, I understand we can't be the easiest people to get along with." She patted Hercules's strong hand.

He looped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a soft squeeze. "You two have been a pleasure compared to some of our traveling companions. At least you aren't trying to get rich quick or force feed us food that turns our stomachs." He let her go and stood up. "Iolaus is making rabbit… again." He warned her.

"Hopefully it isn't one of the animals I talked to today, that would be a little awkward." Tracey said, giving herself a shake and shrugged her shoulders. "That may get a little weird if we're not careful about that."

Tracey pushed herself off from the rock and pulled the cloak closer to her body. It was getting colder and tonight the fire would be a little higher tonight.

"I'm hoping tomorrow will yield more favorable result."

"Me too." Hercules replied and followed her back to the campsite.

Artemis still hadn't been able to get herself loose from the soaked canvas wrapped and tied around her. Whoever had done it knew what they were doing and she already had a handful of painful steam burns from letting her frustrations get the better of her. She had managed to get herself leaning against a wall in the corner of the room which did nothing to protect her from the dripping water but did let her rest a bit. She closed her eyes and tried not to fight the shivers that wracked her. She was pretty well out of options and she knew it, besides which all her struggles had done was waste energy and no one had come to feed her, her stomach gnawed at her and she tilted her head back further and opened her mouth to catch the foul tasting water that dripped down hoping that sating her thirst would trick her body into being less hungry. It didn't really work but it was the best she could do. She tried to put together the pieces of the puzzle of her capture, the centaurs had spoken of a man called Draxxus while they thought she was unconscious and of being paid a lot of money to find her and her friend. She was even more glad she'd made Tracey hide, she didn't want to think of what these people would have done to Tracey to keep her powers under control.

And speaking of control she was still trying to figure out how to keep from steaming herself while using her powers, exhaustion took her and she fell into a fitful sleep.


	5. Chapter 4: Results

Tracey, Iolaus and Hercules started their search again as soon as dawn broke. It wasn't until well after noon that they got their first real break. Iolaus overheard someone asking where they could sell some extremely unusual merchandise. They'd overheard an extremely furtive set of directions and gone to find Hercules so they could follow them. The dilapidated and defunct temple to Dionysus didn't look like the hide out of someone as purportedly wealthy and powerful as Draxxus but they hunkered down across the street from it. They were in one of the worst parts of the city and thieves, beggars and orphans roamed the streets warily. They watched a younger man greet the prospective customer at the entrance to the temple then nothing. Iolaus was watching their surroundings while Hercules and Tracey tried to decide what their next move should be.

"For the sake of stealth I think Nargis should go in first just to see how many guards we're going to be dealing with, that way we can't be surprised from behind." Tracey suggested rubbing her eyes tiredly. "He and his friends will be able to do the scouting and hopefully it will be an easy in and easy out."

Last night wasn't restful at all for Tracey and she tossed and turned in her sleep beneath the cloak. Her facial features contorted as if she herself was in pain and couldn't do anything to prevent it. It didn't stop until a few hours later and even then her sleep was light and she woke with a jolt when Hercules moved to wake her in the morning.

"Do you guys have any other suggestions? Because I'm all ears, but I want to be long gone from this place as soon as we get Artemis back... Our horse friends are standing by if we need them in a field close by to help us escape."

"Sending Nargis in sounds like a good idea." Iolaus replied and hunkered down to wait his eyes still scanning the street.

Tracey had noticed that he seemed more serious and more dangerous since entering the city, Hercules was always serious and a little dangerous but it was more noticeable in Iolaus. Tracey sent Nargs in and they waited for what seemed like a short eternity. Eventually Nargis came out and he sent impressions to Tracey of a small number of guards inside. More than three but other than that she couldn't get an accurate number since birds couldn't count. Taking a deep breath and patting Iolaus's shoulder, Tracey held out her hand and Nargis returned to her. He chirped as he landed on her outstretched hand, gripping her fingers gentle with his taloned feet.

"Okay, it looks like there's at least five, maybe more, guys hanging around inside, but I would say at least ten to be cautious. I love Nargis, he's awesome to have around and brave for going on this dangerous mission." She said, lovingly giving him a scratch between the wings. "But unlike us he can't count and the impressions that he sent me couldn't tell me much more than three figures in pale, dark coverings... which I have to assume is armor."

Looking at Iolaus, Tracey gave him a comforting smile.

"She will burn everything down, no matter what pain she may feel, and take everyone who caused her harm with her. If it means to keep the ones she cares for most out of harms way, she will do what she must." She whispered softly, looking him in the eye. "But she is a fighter and a strong one at that. She will not give in to pain and she won't give in to torture. We will get her back because we were brought here for a reason and we will kick any ass to find out why we were brought here so perk up and help me kick their asses."

Iolaus and Hercules led the way into the temple. Dirt and grime crusted every surface and from somewhere Tracey could hear dripping. There were the faint sounds of voices from under their feet and as they followed the sound Hercules and Iolaus took out the few guards they encountered. Iolaus held up a hand for them to stop and listen as they neared the stairs and could hear more clearly. "Stop kicking her Peron. The client won't pay if she's dead."

"Might I suggest a muzzle as she insists on biting?" Another male voice said mildly.

The first speaker gave a low chuckle. "If we had more time I'd be interested in exploring other things she could do with her mouth.

"In your fucking dreams." Artemis spat in a weak but defiant voice.

"Oh little witch. You couldn't fathom my dreams." He replied and they heard a resounding slap.

Hercules put a hand on Tracey's shoulder to hold her in place while they kept listening. The voices seemed to be clustered near the stairs. "You should not have taken this order Draxxus. We do not know why this God wants a human witch but I do know that Gods are not known for honoring their debts." A thickly accented voice said.

"Oh Peron, my pessimistic friend. I have already been paid for this job, your concern is unwarranted." Draxxus replied smoothly. "Is the cart ready?"

"It is. We can leave at dusk." Peron replied coldly.

"Good, Let us adjourn for a well earned drink…" The voices faded as the group of men moved away from them deeper into the underground. Iolaus crept down the stairs after a minute then reappeared motioning them down the stairs. "They're gone, it looks like they took an underground tunnel out."

As they crept down the stairs Tracey saw the larger room with stacks of broken and rotting wine barrels along the walls. There was a steady sound of water, almost like it was raining underground. As her eyes adjusted she saw a cell tucked away in one corner, the water was raining down through perforations in the ceiling and a thick metal grate sat under the holes, water raining steadily down onto a bundle of canvas laying against one wall. It moved a little and Tracey realized it was Artemis wrapped tightly in canvas that was tied closed with chains and ropes. Hercules tried the cell door and found it unlocked. Not surprising since Artemis was tied so tightly she wouldn't have been able to go anywhere even if she could have rolled out of the cell. He started to lift her up and she started thrashing teeth snapping as she tried to bite whoever was holding her.

"Don't move her Hercules!" Tracey whispered hastily, pushing his arms back down. "Artemis stop moving! It's us, Hercules, Iolaus and Tracey."

As soon as Hercules put Artemis down on the floor gently, Tracey had to carefully unwrapped the bindings at the top and undid the blindfold around her eyes so she could see for herself that they were who they said they were. Tracey suggested that they keep watch while she worked. She gave Artemis a concerned look, eying her from head to toe and shaking her head. There were red splotches all over her face, a busted lip with blood smeared over her cheeks and jaw and she was pretty sure there were more scratches and bruises all over the rest of her.

"All things considered I'm glad you're at least in one piece." Tracey whispered, holding her hand over the wet wrappings and concentrating on removing the water from them.

Waving her hands over her head and keeping up the flowing motions in her wrist, Tracey was able to keep the water dripping down on them from above, to divert it's course away from them. With her other hand she pulled the water from the wrappings and pushed the water beneath their feet away to the other side of the wall.

"I know you're tired Arty but I could really use you're help in taking care of the ropes. At the moment one element is my limit until I figure out the rest."

Artemis blinked and Tracey saw that her lips were blue and she could feel the shaking as her friend shivered uncontrollably. Hercules moved forward cautiously and when she didn't try to bite him again he snapped the chains wrapped around her, another quick motion and the ropes came loose. She cried out as the bindings loosened and feeling started coming back to her limbs. Hercules looked around and both he and Iolaus tensed for a fight but when no one showed up he let out a slow breath. "We need to get out of here now. Artemis I need to carry you." She nodded and tried to bite back a groan when he lifted her up. "Hurry Tracey, up the stairs."

He motioned for her to go ahead of him and Iolaus brought up the rear. They moved quickly but not at a run through the city and out the opposite side from their campsite. The horses were waiting patiently and Hercules handed Artemis, still wrapped in damp canvas, up to Iolaus.

"I'll bring up the rear. Ride west, through the woods." He said, mounting.

They set off with Iolaus and Artemis between Tracey and Hercules. Iolaus could feel the shudders and a quick glance at her face showed that she'd slipped out of consciousness again. The blood in her hair and on her face worried him and he realized she wasn't wearing her crown. Not that she needed it to be regal but it seemed strange to him not to see it on her head. He shook his head and pressed the horse to go a little faster.

"Tracey." He called. "Change directions. We need to get out of the underbrush or they'll be able to track us."

"I dare them to try." She called back over the wind.

With her eyes taking on a more greenish blue tint to them, Tracey slowly let go of her horse's mane, gripping his muscular sides with her knees and thighs, and held her hands out to her sides. She flicked her wrists in a winding fashion and brought them together to her center, watching with pleasure as the vines and trees limbs moved to shield them from prying eyes and aiding them in their escape. Tracey looked to Artemis, who rode in front of Iolaus and frowned with worry. "Be careful with her!"

They traveled until the sun started to dip into the west and the forest started to grow dark. Hercules found a sheltered spot between the roots of a truly massive tree. He took Artemis and let Iolaus dismount and held her gently while Iolaus gathered pine branches and covered them with a blanket. Hercules laid her down on the makeshift bed and Iolaus hurried to start a fire so they could see as they unwrapped the canvas from around her, Tracey hovered on the other side and winced at the dark red burns on her arms which were seeping fluid from broken blisters. Her lips were still blueish and she still shivered while Iolaus tried to assess her injuries.

"Tracey... Can you do anything?" He asked his blue eyes worried.

She tried to look over Artemis's body and carefully peeled away pieces of fabric from her skin to see the full extent of the damage. Slowly she shook her head and sighed heavily.

"I only know a little about healing myself, but I'll try my best." She answered quietly, her voice shaking a little with more worry. "I need aloe, water from the river, bandages, and... and... damn it I can't remember the name, but I know what it looks like. But we need to hurry, so Artemis can rest, that will be the best medicine for her. I'll go get my last ingredient when you return with what I need, please hurry."

Tracey fingered through her knapsack and found a water skin and unstoppered the top, bringing it to Artemis's lips and helped her to drink a little of the water. She took some fresh rags from the pouch as well and set them on the blanket, two small bowls followed too. These she would use for the aloe and the other medicinal ingredient she required. Knowing that time was of the essential to Artemis's healing period, Tracey left with one of the small bowls and vanished into the shadow ladened trees.

Iolaus and Hercules cleaned as much blood and grime from Artemis as they could hesitating to undress her but seeing no other option. The flames on the fringe around her waist were guttering low and weak as they gently worked the damp harem pants off leaving just the leggings and bra. They covered her in another blanket after cleaning her cuts as best they could, the shivering was worrying, as was the fever she was developing. Iolaus looked up when Tracey returned. "She's started a fever."

"This is what I was afraid of." Tracey replied, gently pushing between them and nodding to their quick work. "Excuse me. Iolaus I need you to cut these aloe leaves and squeeze their juice into this bowl."

She pushed the other small bowl toward him and turned back to her work. In the bowl that she took with her to find the final bit of medicine, a clear substance that she knew to have healing properties, but never for the life of her could she remember the name. Tracey used to find it in the river when she was up in the forests of california where her family's cabin was located. Inspecting the shallow cut on her forehead, Tracey quickly dipped her fingers in the clear goop and smeared a thick layer over the cut, binding it with the clean gauze and tying it off comfortable, not too tight as to cut off all circulation. With the other cuts all over her body, she did the same until all of them were salved and bound.

"We're almost done here." Tracey said quietly, taking to bowl from Iolaus and thanking him for working so quickly. "This will help her burns."

Ever so gently Tracey smoothed the aloe over the burns on Artemis's body and let out a quiet sigh. She took one more herb and cut a thin slice from it, pinching it until a sappy green liquid oozed from it. It didn't have the most wonderful smell to it and Tracey did wrinkle her nose a little, but she grabbed the water skin and prepared herself for what had to come next.

"This isn't going to taste very good, so you may want to hold her down gently." She said, looking to Iolaus and Hercules who quickly did as she asked. "Here comes the fun part."

Without a moment's hesitation, Tracey gently parted Artemis's lips and inserted the foul smelling ooze into her mouth, holding the water skin to her lips and hoping she would drink to relieve the nasty taste in her mouth. As she had expected Artemis sputtered and even unconscious she tried to spit it out but eventually Tracey got the medicine and half the waterskin into her friend. The sun had set and the darkness coiled around them like a living thing while they wrapped her in blankets and banked the fire to try to drive some of the chill from her skin. Iolaus managed a modest meal from what was left of their supplies and handed Tracey her share. "She'll be ok." He told her as he handed Hercules his portion.

Hercules nodded. "I'm curious about who they were delivering her to."

Tracey quietly thanked Iolaus and slowly ate, nodding to Hercules's statement and wondered about it herself.

"Well we know one thing for certain, it is a God who wanted us delivered to them. So which God or Gods do you think would care about us?" She asked, poking at her food before looking over at Artemis to see she was sleeping soundly.

Hercules gave a slightly bitter laugh. "None of them really care about anyone but themselves."

Iolaus thought about it while he ate. "Maybe it's not one of our Gods." He said after a few minutes.

"If it wasn't one of the Greek Gods then we wouldn't be here to begin with..." Tracey started, putting her plate aside and checking on Artemis, rinsing out the cloth that was on her forehead and replacing it again. "I don't know a lot about the Gods and Goddesses Artemis speaks and prays too... but I try to keep an open mind. Until she comes around again we'll have to think about it on our own."

She adjusted the blankets around her friend, Tracey stood up and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"We shouldn't move her until her fever breaks or she's strong enough to move on her own."

Iolaus handed her a blanket. "Get some sleep Tracey, we'll keep an eye on her and wake you if anything changes."

"I don't think I could..." She trailed off as a yawn broke free from her lips and she sighed. "Fine."

Tracey put away her herbs and kept the water near at hand, she laid out the blanket on the ground close enough to the fire to keep warm but not so she'd get burned in the night. The other half she pulled over her body and settled down for sleep, Artemis being the last person she saw before her eyes closed and sleep took her.

Iolaus waited until he was sure she was asleep before he turned to Hercules. "I think we need to talk to Zeus, or one of the other Gods." He said quietly and watched his friend tense up.

"Listen Herc, hear me out. If one of the Gods is planning something big… something to do with Artemis, or Tracey we need to get ahead of this. Maybe they brought them here for whatever it is… or maybe a God from another land brought them here to use them against our Gods." Iolaus looked over at Artemis who was breathing faster as the fever gripped her.

"We can get the same information at Delphi without talking to the Gods." Herc said shortly.

"What if Draxxus anticipates that and ambushes us on our way to Delphi, or on our way to the Oracle since there's only one way in and out." Iolaus pointed over at Tracey and fought to keep his voice down. "She's not the fighter her friend is, that we are, she could get really hurt. And Artemis has already been really hurt. Why take the risk?"

Hercules clenched his jaw and stared at the fire for a few minutes trying to reign in his temper. "Let me think about it." He said finally. "We can't do anything until Artemis is ready to travel anyway so we have a day or so."

Iolaus sighed but let the subject drop. He looked over at Artemis as she gave a soft moan and got up to check on her. Her skin was no longer icy but it was hot and dry. He dipped a cloth in the water Tracey had brought back and started bathing her forehead and neck trying to keep her temperature down. He smoothed her hair back from her face and checked the handful of cuts on her scalp where she'd been struck in the head. Hercules was staring into the fire and Iolaus left him to his thoughts while his own settled on Artemis and Tracey. He admired them both, their bond was deep and strong and they obviously cared for one another but what surprised him was how much they cared for others. While they chatted on the road they had spoken fondly of friends, family and lovers though when a man name Fox was brought up Artemis got quiet. He liked Tracey's humor and gentle way of finding the positive in everything, she was sweet and kind and had a wicked sense of humor.

Artemis was another matter however, he was afraid he was falling in love with her. She had a warrior's spirit and a fierce determination. She reminded him a little of Xena but without the anger and bitterness. He smoothed her hair back again and watched her until Herc told him to get some sleep.

When Tracey woke the next morning she saw Iolaus sitting with his back against a tree beside Artemis who was still flushed with fever, her eyes darted back and forth in fever dreams. Hercules was tending the fire and nodded to her when she woke. "Morning."

"Good morning Hercules..." She said sleepily, slowly sitting up and leaning over to feel Artemis's cheeks and forehead. "Did you rest well?"

Tracey removed the blanket from her body and folded up her blanket, tying it up just in case they had to leave in a hurry, but that wouldn't happen today, but there wasn't any harm in being prepared. After she finished, she poured more water into a bowl and gently dipped a new rag into the liquid to dab on her forehead and cheeks. Tracey moved to her neck next and then soaked to rag thoroughly, wringing it out to place over her forehead. Taking an apple into a clean spare bowl, she washed a rock clean with some spare water and used it to crush the apple in the bowl until it became a sauce. This she tried to encourage Artemis to eat and gave her some more water. A little sustenance would help, but she had to get her to eat.

She managed to get a little into Artemis who was still unconscious. Iolaus woke with a little start and helped support Artemis while Tracey cleaned the burns on her back. He looked over at Hercules who sighed. "Tracey when you're done you and I are going to go find a temple and see if I can get one of the Gods to talk to us."

"I'll make myself presentable but I can't promise I'll be polite depending on the God or Goddess we meet." She replied, taking the bowl of aloe and used some more to tend to the spots on her lower back. "Despite only one day, these are looking better from what I can see. Iolaus if you can get her to eat a little more while we're gone I'd appreciate it."

Standing up after checking the rest of her injuries and bruises, Tracey dusted her clothes off and poked Nargis in the belly. She exchanged quick emotions with him as he fluffed himself up and watched as he hopped over to Iolaus and Artemis and chirped. Nargis posted himself in a tree right above their heads and hopping to and fro on the branch as if he was keeping a lookout for something.

"Nargis is playing sentry while we're away, he'll come get us if there's any trouble... he'll know how to find us if necessary." She said, watching her feathered friend for a moment before looking at Iolaus. "We'll be back soon and hopefully along the way, we'll find more fruit and supplies."

She turned to Hercules and nodded. "Shall we?"

He nodded and they walked into the woods until they found a small path. They eventually found a shrine and Hercules ran a hand over his face before calling out. "Athena. I need to talk to you."

He waited for a few minutes then called again. When no Goddess was forthcoming he decided to try a different goddess. "Artemis. Would you please come down and talk to me?"

No one appeared and Hercules closed his eyes and tried not to groan. "Aphrodite."

"Geeze bro, you don't need to shout so loud." Aphrodite appeared in a puff of glitter and flower petals. "Whats with the shouting?"

"We need some information. Do you know who brought Tracey and her friend back in time?" He motioned to Tracey.

Aphrodite gave Tracey a dismissive once over. "Oh come on Herc, you know I can't just tell you that stuff."

One of Tracey's eyebrows rose as she eyed Aphrodite and shook her head, watching as the glitter and petals fell to the ground. She shook her head and smirked.

"They have craft herpes here too it seems." She muttered under her breath before speaking up. "My lovely Aphrodite, is there anything you can tell us that could be helpful to our situation. Anything would be helpful and we would appreciate it."

She knew only some of what this Goddess was capable of and it seemed that flattery would always be the best way to get what they needed. Aphrodite preened a little but shrugged. "I can't really tell you anything. Dad's been pushing the noninterference policy pretty hard lately and it's pissing off a few of the more hands on Gods."

"Since when do the Gods not interfere with mortals?" Hercules asked waspishly.

Aphrodite stuck her tongue out at him. "Look Herc. You know what Zeus is like when he's in a mood."

"It's the Gods favorite past-time..."

Tracey was starting to get a little angry with their lack of progress here and folded her arms over her chest, feet planted firmly beneath her. If they didn't get the answers she and Artemis needed then she'd have to find another way to get the information they needed.

"Hercules this is pointless." She said, a low growl of frustration in her voice. "Perhaps there's another God or Goddess who can help us and who aren't afraid to bend the rules by giving us hints or something useful."

"Whoa whoa chickie check the 'tude. I just said I couldn't give you the answers. Sheesh, Herc you usually hang out with smarter people. Like Curly, where's he at?" Aphrodite crossed her arms and looked around.

Hercules sighed. "He's back at our campsite watching over Tracey's friend who was kidnapped and badly hurt by someone named Draxxus. We overheard him saying that a God had paid for her."

"Well it wasn't any of us. Ol' Horseface is the only one who needs to pay for sacrifices and her acolytes always handle that stuff not middlemen. Whoever wants you girls isn't from our side of the world." She gave Tracey a sympathetic look.

Tracey closed her eyes in mid-roll and let out a sigh.

"Unless Draxxus knew we were there the whole time and was purposefully feeding us false information than we have to assume that it was a Greek God." She surmised, pushing back her hair in irritation. "He said God and these ears aren't missing much." She pointed to her ears and they wiggled for emphasis.

"Hey I'm just telling you what I know, which isn't much about this. If you want insights into the unknown go talk to an Oracle. Nice seeing you again bro." She smiled at Hercules and vanished in another puff of glitter.

Tracey muttered some incoherent words beneath her voice and from the tone of her voice she wasn't happy with anything that Aphrodite had to say. At the moment they couldn't do anything right now because Artemis was still with fever and needed rest. She stalked back the way they had come and her frustration rippled off of her in waves that could almost be felt.

"What should we do now?!" She seethed, eyes glaring at the path in front of her. "Useless... we can't move Arty for another day or so and we still haven't gotten any farther with finding out who brought us here. If the Gods can't suck it up and handle their own affairs without bringing other, innocent people in to clean up their mess then perhaps they shouldn't be meddling with people and their lives. If they found better ways to use their time then perhaps Greece wouldn't have so many starving people in it."

She fumed, not really caring who she pissed off, whether they be mortal or God. Perhaps by doing this she would finally get somewhere with the answers they needed.

Hercules let her rant and rave for a few minutes before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Take a breath Tracey. The Gods are famous for not giving a straight answer when they can be bothered to answer at all. But Aphrodite did say to go to an Oracle which is what we were doing in the first place so at least we know we're on the right track. Artemis is strong, she'll heal up in no time."

Sighing deeply, Tracey slumped under Hercules's arm around her shoulders and slowly her breathing became even again. She looked up at him and smiled, completely calm again and well vented for now but she did simmer a little when it came to the Gods and their love of meddling and not giving straight answers. It aggravated her to no end that they couldn't get answers to the questions that had to be asked and it was urgent that they keep moving forward and the Gods were standing in the way.

"I'm sorry, I live in a fast paced world and I don't like how slow this process is moving. I don't know if you can relate because yours and Iolaus's life has been nothing but fast paced since you left the academy I'm sure." Tracey said, blinking and continuing up the trail they just walked, heading back toward their campsite. "Never a dull moment with you two, though the same thing could be said for Arty and myself when it came to our crafting."

"I can't really imagine what your lives are like. You're from the future and the most futuristic place I've ever been was Atlantis and that was too fast for me." He gave her a gentle hug. "I can imagine that you're anxious to get back to your way of life."

Tracey halted in her tracks and slowly wrapped her arms around Hercules's middle, still not being able to touch her fingers together because he was so broad around as she was average body built. She took a deep breath and slowly released it. He had a nice, musky smell, like that of a person who liked to work with their hands and didn't mind laborious tasks.

"Anxious to get back yes, but we can't do that yet because there's a problem here and apparently we're involved now so until we figure out what's going on. I'm never one to leave something unfinished." Tracey said, looking up from Hercules's sculpted chest and smiling. "Thank you Hercules... believe me when I say that I would rather be here than there. It's more peaceful here and the only thing that we have to worry about is bandits, obnoxious Gods that are full of themselves and sharp pointy objects that draw blood... The weapons in our world make the weapons here look like toys."

"It scares me to think humanity will build worse weapons." He commented and looked down at her his face slightly concerned and this close she could see his eyes were more green than blue. "I know you can't tell us much about the future but can you tell me if your time is better? Do the Gods still meddle? Are there people who still do good in the world?"

Tracey felt very lost in those blue eyes of his and suddenly very small in his arms. She cleared her throat and blinked before nodding.

"Yes there are truly good people who try every day to help those less fortunate than themselves, but it always seems that the good are always outweighed by the bad. I can honestly say that the Gods don't meddle unless the prayers are strong." She smiled a little and continued. "There are those people who make our time better, more enjoyable."

He smiled back and she felt less small and more like she just fit. "Feeling a little better?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Tracey replied. "I want to check on Artemis to see how she's doing."

Stepping back from Hercules's arms, she stepped out again with renewed energy in her steps. The sun danced across their path and she finally took notice of the heat that it let off and the sweet smelling wind that blew through the grass. Yes this place was certainly more peaceful then their world.

When they got back to the camp Iolaus was sitting with his back against a tree cradling Artemis who was still unconscious, he had a few red scratched on his chest and arms but Artemis didn't look any worse. She didn't look any better but she wasn't worse which made Tracey feel a little better. "She had a nightmare." He explained simply.

He motioned to the waterskin. "We're out of water and firewood."

Kneeling down in front of them, Tracey checked Artemis's temperature and then tenderly moved the bandages on her forehead and looked at the red patches on her skin. All looked better and she nodded in approval. She stood again and took the water skin with her.

"I'll get the water and see what dried branches I can collect while I'm over by the river." Tracey said, getting the knapsack from it's resting position on top of the blanket she had used last night. "I'll see if there are any edible nuts and berries around there too."

"I'll get some firewood." Hercules told Tracey. "You just focus on water and food."

They split up and Tracey was surprised to see just how much edible forage was easily accessible. She'd filled a smaller bag full of hazelnuts and beechnuts and another smaller bag full of berries. As she made her way back to the camp she heard Iolaus singing softly, before she stepped out of the woods she watched Iolaus cleaning a rabbit and preparing a pot with various herbs and vegetation while he waited for her to bring water, Artemis was laying back on the bed of pine boughs and it was clear to Tracey that he was singing to her, trying to keep her calm as she lay gripped by fever dreams. "I didn't know you could sing Iolaus." Tracey says with a smile and then looked down at the rabbit he was cleaning and shook her head. "Rabbit again? You're going to hunt those critters into extinction."

She crouched down next to Artemis and replaced the rag on her forehead with a fresh and cool one. Tracey took some bread from the knapsack and used some of the extra water to soften it up for her to eat. Even if she was unconscious, if she ate a little periodically then it was almost assured that she'd get better faster and that's what they needed her to do.

"Come on Arty, you need to have a little." She encouraged, gently massaging her throat to stimulate her glands to swallow the soft bread and water she was being offered.

Iolaus added some water to the pot and added chunks of rabbit to it. "My mother used to sing whenever me and my siblings were sick. I thought she might find it soothing." He stirred the soup and sat back. "She'll be able to swallow broth easier and it'll have some body to it."

Hercules came back with an armload of firewood and set it aside. "Rabbit again Iolaus?"

"It's always good." Iolaus replied a little defensively.

They passed the day chatting and joking. At one point they all dozed off under the heat of the sun and the soothing noises of forest insects. Tracey was woken by a strange noise in the woods and a sense of dread washed over her when she realized the insects and birds had gone silent. Even Nargis had vanished because she didn't see him anywhere. Tracey stretched out her hand, eyes closed, and rested it on the bare earth, at first feeling nothing, but then there it was. Quiet and very subtle ripples passed under her hand and her eyes opened, their color had turned to a deep brown to the point they almost looked black. Slowly letting her eyes look to both sides, she saw Iolaus leaning against the tree beside Artemis and Hercules laying out on the ground, he chin resting against his chest and arms crossed over his stomach.

'Get up Tracey.' She thought to herself. 'Move slowly and if you can wake Hercules and Iolaus than do it... if not then take them down... protect your friends.'

Tracey couldn't see anyone in the trees, but since she was in tuned with the earth under her body she could sense them coming. The ripples in the ground gave her a hint that they were a little ways off, but getting closer and moving quietly. She slowly moved into a crouch and reached out to Hercules's body, but stopped when she heard movement behind her.

She turned her head slowly and saw that Iolaus had woken and was moving just as stealthily. He nodded to her to wake Hercules as he covered Artemis with more pine boughs to hide her from sight. "Hercules... Hercules... someone is coming and they're not alone." Tracey whispered, giving his arm a shake.

Her eyes seemed to glow with a pale amber light as she looked up into the trees, searching the trees for their sneaky, unwelcome guests. She didn't have to search very hard. With a howl several assailants clad in browns and greens launched themselves into their little campsite and made a grab for Tracey. Hercules was up in a flash backhanding one of them away from her and into a tree, the fight was short and confusing with Hercules and Iolaus fighting back to back and Tracey using nature to fight back as well. They kept coming after Tracey but when it became apparent that they weren't going to be able to take her alive they started using short spears and swords to try to kill her.

Tracey's eyes went wide at the sight of their weapons and she gritted her teeth together and bared them at her assailants.

"Bastards, don't think I'll go down without fighting back."

Her next movements were sharper, more rough and commanding, nothing like her more fluid motions she did when she was working with water. She stomped the earth with her feet, creating her stance to be one of an unmovable force. The ground shook and rose in front of her, following her hand's directions until she balled them into fists and punched outward with them, sending the stones flying into the charging men and hurling them backward. Tracey punched her fists downward toward the ground and then slid them up until her hands were level with her chest. Her movements were quick and rough like the ground in which she was shaping and commanding. Minutes later, their attackers were moaning on the ground and she looked around, hoping to find everyone else alright. The man on the ground next her her moaned and she quickly used the earth beneath him to bind him in a mountain of earth up to his neck.

"Who do you work for? Answer me quickly for I am in no mood to play games." Tracey growled, her hand closing into a fist and the earth around him starting to solidify and become heavy.

He groaned. "Draxxus. We work for Draxxus." He yelped.

"Finally, now we're getting somewhere." Tracey growled, letting her hand relax. "I hope you have more to offer than just a name. What does he want with me and my friend?"

Hercules and Iolaus finished tieing up the rest of the assassins and came over to listen. The man struggled a little before answering. "Like Draxxus tells us. He pays us to reclaim lost property. Said you were way too valuable to let slip through his fingers. He told me you'd be easy to catch since your friend is probably to hurt to fight back. He never said anything about you being with Hercules and his little side kick."

Iolaus bridled at being called little but kept his mouth shut. Hercules leaned down to look the man in the face. "When you realized you couldn't take her alive you started trying to kill her. Why?"

"Orders. You're worth more alive but the client will make due with corpses." He snarled

Tracey's eyebrows rose and she snickered while crossing her arms over her chest, fist still holding onto the earth that trapped the assassin she was questioning. She never let go of her newest element and twitched her fingers, bringing them closer to the palm of her hand. This caused the earth to constrict a little more around the man's chest, testing his honesty and reminding him to speak only the truth.

"You'll have the devil's own task trying to kill us." She scoffed. "And we are not property, we don't belong to anyone... Who is Draxxus working for? I doubt he's smart enough to come after two complete strangers without being informed by a higher power. Hurry with your answers and you better speak the truth otherwise it will be the last thing you ever do."

"I'm telling you. Draxxus doesn't tell us that kind of stuff. We're hired to find people and bring them back. We don't need to know why he wants them." The man sounded desperate and Hercules put a hand on her shoulder. "It makes sense Tracey."

Tracey blinked and very slowly relaxed her fingers, letting the earth remain firm, but not loose enough for the man to escape.

"It seems that if we want the answers we need, we'll either have to go get Draxxus and make him talk or stick with our original plan." She said coldly, glaring at the man. "I wonder how much we would get if we turned these bastards in to the proper authorities... as if they were cattle."

"If we want to find a new safe place to stay before sundown we won't have time." Iolaus replied and hit the man in the back of the head hard enough to knock him out. "Let's get Artemis out of here before they come to and tell Draxxus how hurt she is." He hurried over and uncovered Artemis picking her up. "We have about 5 hours before sunset."

Tracey watched the man fall unconscious to the ground and wished they didn't have to move again tonight, but Iolaus was right and they should move. A cave would be ideal because it would be easy to defend and so long as nothing was living in it to begin with, they could hide out as long as they needed to. Without speaking so much as a word she gently tapped the ground with her foot and waited for the response she was looking for. The wind carried several shrill whinnies to her ears and she nodded.

"Sojin and his friends will help us move." Tracey said, strapping the blanket roll and knapsack across her back and turned to take care of Artemis.

Carefully checking the bandages and blanket around Arty's body, she made sure they were secure before she would allow her to be moved. Her eyes became a deep brown color and she buried the campfire and shifted the earth all over the campsite to make it appear that they had never stopped there. Once she was satisfied, Tracey nodded and Sojin, the horse that had come to their aid twice before, snorted and appeared by her side. Nargis showed up a moment later and chirped, landing on her shoulder.

"It's good to see that you're still safe... we can go now."

Hercules took Artemis until Iolaus had mounted then passed her back up and mounted his horse. Hercules took the rear again and they rode at a quick pace while the sun traveled the sky. Iolaus stopped about an hour before sunset and handed Artemis over to Hercules. "I'm going to scout a new campsite."

Hercules laid Artemis down on the ground under a tree and checked her over. She was still burning with fever and her eyes were darting back and forth beneath her eyelids. He held her up while Tracey got some water into her. The sky was darkening when Iolaus returned and motioned for them to follow him. He'd found a cave and made sure it was empty. They all set about their various tasks in silence, Iolaus and Hercules got a fire going and Iolaus warmed some broth in a bowl for Artemis, Hercules motioned to Tracey. "We need to talk." He said softly. "Iolaus can take care of Artemis"

Putting the stopper back on the water skin, Tracey set it down beside her stuff and then rose to her feet slowly. She knew those words well and they never meant anything good from her experience, but somehow this time they didn't sound so bad, but she couldn't be sure.

"Nargis, keep watch please." She told the bird before she followed Hercules outside and off to the side of the cave. "What's on your mind Hercules?"

"I think we need to split the group. Artemis is going to be weak from the fever and the beating and you're right, we need to speed things up. Draxxus doesn't look like he's going to stop any time soon. I think if you and I make a very obvious beeline for Delphi we can draw Draxxus men away from Artemis and we can go see the Oracle while we do it." He looked concerned.

She was silent while Hercules spoke, but she was shifting on her feet and crossed her arms under her chest and looked down at her feet, contemplating everything. She looked at all of his points from every angle and flipped them over in her mind a few times before shaking her head.

"No, I don't want to leave Artemis again. I just got her back and she's badly hurt, what if the next time I return to her she's dead?! No, I'm not comfortable with this plan."

Tracey started to rock back on the balls of her feet. "I have no doubt that Iolaus could protect Artemis... but I can't lose Artemis."

Hercules crossed his arms and thought about how best to make his point. "What if she were to wake up before we leave? She's not just going to spring up from a sick bed ready to travel at a hard pace and the number of times we've had to move her has probably made her more ill. Its another three days for a healthy person to Delphi and if we keep getting attacked the chances of Artemis getting more hurt increase, especially since those men told us that they don't have to keep either of you alive. If we leave and do it in a very obvious fashion we can draw them away."

Anger rose inside Tracey, causing her to turn away from him, but she didn't say anything for a long time. Silence and then she just let it go, knowing that he was right as usual and always made a good point. She turned back to him and threw up her hands and let them fall to her sides again in defeat.

"Fine, I guess we'll leave in the morning, unless you had another time that you wanted to leave." Tracey answered, closing her eyes tiredly. "But I go under protest."

"I understand." He murmured and patted her shoulder.

They went back into the cave and Hercules explained what they were planning on doing. He actually looked relieved. "I was going to suggest the same thing." He said handing Tracey some soup and bread.

Tracey took the bowl silently and sat down at the fire, gazing into the flickering flames deep in thought. Nargis landed in a shuffle of feathers and chirps on her knee. She didn't even look down at him as he hopped onto her hand and rubbed his face against her skin. Blinking herself out of her trance-like state, Tracey absently scratched under his chin and then dunked a little piece of bread into her soup and fed it to him. Nargis graciously accepted and gobbled it down hungrily.

"Glad you're enjoying this, I'll need you to stay here and keep an eye on Iolaus and Artemis for me until I get back."

The beautiful black bird chirped in understanding and she gave him a small smile.

Despite the nap they'd had earlier Tracey managed to fall asleep pretty quickly, she was woken by Iolaus, she could see the moon a handspan over the horizon when she glanced out the cave entrance. "Her fever broke." He murmured and motioned to where Artemis was laying sweating profusely and shifting uncomfortably. "She's starting to wake up, I thought you might want to be the first face she sees."

Tracey blinked the sleep from her eyes and then rubbed them until she was fully awake. The fire had died down to nothing but embers that glowed in the darkness of the cave. She slowly pushed the blanket from her body and rose to her feet, crossing passed Iolaus and crouched down in front of Artemis. Tracey gently dabbed at her face with a clean rag and cleaned off the fever sweat, all the while she was looked at her in concern.

"Artemis... Arty... How are you feeling?" She asked, edging closer to her blanket. "You're bruises are going away and the red patches are almost gone too. Do you need some water?"

Artemis groaned and blinked up at her. "Did anyone… get the number...of that truck?" She asked hoarsely.

Quietly Tracey laughed and shook her head, classic Arty, it was just like her to tell jokes to hide her pain, not unlike Tracey.

"Thirteen." Tracey answered, tweaking the answer a little and then bringing the water to her lips. "Drink a little, do you want something to eat?"

Artemis sipped the water then laid back still sweating. "Gods no. I feel like I went 10 rounds with John Cena and lost all of them." She looked around at the cave. "What happened after I passed out? I remember you guys saving me then nothing."

"That was about three days ago my sweet." Tracey said slowly, recounting the events in her head and she replaced the stopper and speaking again. "We took you back to our campsite outside the city you were being held in and could only stay there one day because we were attacked yesterday afternoon and had to move again. Iolaus found this cave and we made camp here last night.

She sat back and got comfortable. "I think we'll be safe here for a time... The men who attacked us worked for Draxxus and not even the Gods here are being helpful. Hercules and I went to ask them for answers and wait till I tell you that Aphrodite looks just like her counterpart from our world. But she wasn't any help other telling us that the almighty Zeus doesn't want the other Gods to interfere with the mortals but I think that's a load of bullshit."

Artemis smiled slightly "Not so different from our time then. The Gods help those that help themselves. We can just talk to them more directly here. Did his men say why they want us?"

Tracey had to scoff when she recalled what the assassins told her.

"Not much, other than they were sent to reclaim us, Draxxus' property. Or kill us if they couldn't do that, apparently that's all they knew... which wasn't much."

Artemis sighed. "Draxxus told me a God paid a lot of money for me. Whoever it is wants both of us. I don't think it's the Greek Gods though. I don't think a local God would need to hire a mortal to take us."

"Hercules, Iolaus and I were hiding in the shadows when he was speaking to you. I hope we see them again, because when we do I will hurt them..."

There was a dangerous glow in her eyes as they reflected the embers of the fire and she shook her head again to remove the thought from her head.

"Barbarians... can't leave good people alone..." She muttered to no one in particular.

Artemis wrapped her hand around Traceys and squeezed lightly. "We'll deal with it later. So what's the next move?"

Tracey looked down at their hands and returned her squeeze with one of her own, but gently. She looked up and faced Arty with a small smile.

"You are going to rest here and Iolaus is going to protect you... Hercules and I are going to draw Draxxus and his mens' attention off of you and go to Delphi to get answers. I didn't want to leave you, but I know Iolaus can protect you and Nargis is going to stay too." She replied and let a breath out slowly. "We have to get answers and you need rest so the most logical course of action would be to split up so we can keeping moving forward."

Artemis looked like she was going to object but she finally just nodded. "You're right. It makes sense. I can't even sit up right now much less make a hard trip with people chasing us. Promise me you will be careful." She looked hard at Tracey.

She gives a soft laugh and nods.

"I'll have the great and powerful Hercules by my side... what could possibly happen?"

She knew she had just asked the universal question. First of all, they had already been pulled from their own time and dropped into Ancient Greece, secondly, they had met the two heroes of Greece, and thirdly they already had freaks and other Gods after them... how else could their lives be screwed up further?

"Don't make me drool on you… since that all I'm up for right now." Artemis retorted.

Tracey laughed a little louder and then hunched herself over and looked around, placing her hand over her mouth to stifle any further laughter so she wouldn't wake up Hercules.

"You should eat something, anything. There's a little bit of bread left, some cheese, a little fruit that I've been mashing up and making a sort of soup for you. Don't worry my dear, no bananas."

"Not in Greece." Artemis replied. "I'll eat later, I'm tired." Her eyes were drifting closed even as she spoke.

Tracey nodded and pulled the blanket up around her shoulders and let her sleep. She yawned a little and pushed back her hair, brushing it out with her fingers before she too settled down on her blanket again. Sleep quickly took her and she slept easier now, knowing that Artemis was healing properly and that they were safe here.

"The next three days are going to be ridiculous, but at least I'll have company to keep me sane."


	6. Chapter 5: Ridiculous

Hercules and Tracey left at dawn and took the most obvious route available. He'd told her to forgo calling the horses since they wanted to be seen by anyone who might be working for Draxxus, he let her set the pace and they moved quickly along the road to Delphi. While they were travelling he told her about some of the less well known adventures he and Iolaus had been on. "So there we were in this tiny boat with Iolaus trying to use a net to snare a monster eel that had been pulling children under when he sees a pretty girl on the bank and starts waving just as the eel bumped up under the boat."

Tracey had been listening intently and all of a sudden let out an almost carefree laugh and smiled a smile that light up her features. She gasped for breath since they were still keeping to a leisurely jog while heading for Delphi.

"Seriously?! Well it is Iolaus so it has to be true... He fell in didn't he?" She asked, getting her breathing back under control, the last thing she needed was to have cramps especially if they were ambushed.

"He fell in and landed right on top of the Eel. I don't know who was more surprised, Iolaus or the Eel." He replied and chuckled. "We've criss crossed all over Greece in the last few years and of all the things I've seen a surprised eel was the funniest."

"I wish I could have been there to see that." She laughed. "Artemis and I have had some fun times too, but nothing like you and Iolaus."

"I'm sure you two have had your own fair share of adventures. Why don't you tell me about one of them? How did you meet?"

Putting on a very thoughtful expression and then an even wider smile appeared on her face.

"Artemis and I met at a Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, party hosted by some mutual acquaintances of ours. I personally didn't really care to go, but my friend Laura was going to be there after work and so I was going to meet her at the party. When I got there, there were a lot of people I didn't know so I stayed off to the side and mingled with one of the two hosts. She was talking with Artemis when I was introduced and we instantly clicked and our conversations spiraled around fabrics, costumes, and businesses she'd had in the past. After that we had gone to a few conventions together, found that we liked working that scene, and created a business of our own."

She laughed again. "She'll probably tell you and Iolaus that I bullied her into starting our business together and for almost two years we have been going strong."

He raised an eyebrow. "She doesn't seem like the kind of person to be bullied. Neither do you."

"I have three brothers so I can't show them weakness and let them bully me. Besides I'm the second oldest and as for Arty, well she's not one to be bullied, but I can be very persuasive when I want to be. After that night we met I couldn't think of anything else but becoming my own boss and trying to make it a full time thing for the both of us." She answered.

He nodded as they continued on the road to Delphi. "Is where you live anything like this?" He asked.

Tracey looked at Hercules, her smile falling a little while she shook her head, dark hair blowing out behind her as the wind picked up. She picked up the pace a little, stepping out to keep her strides even with Hercules's.

"It's nothing like this. Here there's more of a peaceful fell and tranquility... in our world there's more drama and problems. We don't need to blame the Gods for our problems and misfortunes... people in our world usually are the cause of all the misfortunes."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly to relieve the slow build up of carbon dioxide in her sides.

"I can say this though, my family has a cabin up in the woods and during the summers we would all go up there and spend two weeks at a time in the forests and mountains. It was peaceful and quiet, there was no technology and nothing to disturb the peace."

They fell silent as they ran at a slow lope. The sun was lowering when they approached a wagon with a broken axle and a woman with a baby in her arms beside it. Hercules slowed and glanced at Tracey. Tracey eyed the situation and against her better judgment she nodded.

"I'll keep an eye out but we should be careful how we proceed because there's no telling who Draxxus has working for him."

She hated sounding so paranoid, but with assassins trying to capture and or kill her and Artemis, she couldn't help but be a little paranoid. At the moment paranoia was the one of the things keeping them alive... the other were Hercules and Iolaus.

Hercules jogged over and started helping the woman fix her broken axel. And hour later they were back on their way to Delphi. The more miles they put between themselves and their friends the more they both worried but as night fell Tracey found herself relaxing. A feeling of calm was washing over her, Hercules was calming and feeling more at ease as well. "We must be near a Hestian Temple." He remarked.

"I was beginning to wonder about this feeling..." Tracey replied, looking around at their surroundings cautiously. "Is it a spell of some sort? Looks like we're camping out again yes?"

He smiled and veered off to a path leading right. "Not tonight. Hestian Temples are safe harbors for travelers. She protects everyone if they are in her temple."

Shrugging her shoulders, Tracey followed Hercules to the temple and looked around again, expecting to see someone try to grab at them at any given moment. Much to her surprise nothing happened and she slowly relaxed, taking in everything that was inside the temple. There were tapestries on the clean walls, polished floors and vases of flowers in front of every pillar around the temple. There were several different rooms for sleeping, bathing and feeding the travelers who came in and left from the temple, there were even temple staff walking around with wash basins, rags, and changes of clothes.

"Lead the way oh fearless leader." She said, looking at the temple staff and travelers while clutching the cloak closer to her body to conceal the knapsack she was carrying.

The other travelers paid them no attention. An attendant came up to greet them, a benevolent looking young woman dressed in gray offered them damp cloths and a tray of food. Hercules greeted her then led Tracey into a small antechamber where a simple wooden bust of Hestia say on a pedestal. He smiled and inclined his head. "Thank you for your shelter Aunt." He motioned to a bench and sat down relaxing. "We're safe here, I promise."

"That I don't doubt..." She replied, looking around and then inclined her head respectfully to the statue.

Tracey unstrapped the knapsack from her back and set it down at her feet while she nearly fell onto the bench beside Hercules. She took the damp cloth and used it to wipe her face, neck, hands, and her chest, grateful to be rid of the dust and dirt that was kicked up from their long run. Putting the cloth off to her side so she could use it again when she went to bathe, Tracey took some fruit and bread from the plate and nearly tore into it, but remembering where she was Tracey refrained from going savage with the food. The cheese was particularly good and peace washed over her like ocean waves on beach rocks.

"It's a shame that the rest of Greece didn't feel this tranquil, I would think that everyone would be better off otherwise." She said, swallowing her food and rubbing her neck tiredly.

Her body was aching and her muscles sore from pushing herself far beyond her body's normal limits. Hercules turned her gently and started rubbing her shoulders and the back of her neck. She ended up falling asleep within a few minutes and he shifted so he was holding her comfortably. An attendant came by and covered them both with a blanket and left them to sleep in complete safety for the first time in days.

When Tracey woke at dawn she was curled around Hercules who had his head tilted back against the wall. She didn't know what had woken her until she looked around the room and saw a beautiful young woman dressed in a robe of pale gray wool. She was sitting on a bench across from them a bowl of yarn on the bench beside her, she was knitting what looked like a shawl in rainbow hues. "You're awake, did you sleep well?"

Tracey eyed her but didn't consider her a threat by any means, there was just something about her that didn't register as harmful. Slowly she sat up, careful not to wake Hercules and trying at the same time to get her blush under control.

"Very well, thank you." Tracey answered, looking the woman head to toe. Immediately it clicked and she lowered her head respectfully and spoke kindly again. "You must be the Goddess Hestia, I appreciate your shelter and your temple is beautiful."

"I am." She replied and kept knitting. "You are welcome in one of my many homes, you and my nephew. I admit I was curious, you're new and yet… not. It's been a very long time since a human walked through time."

Her heart skipped a beat and for a moment she was stunned in awe. She analyzed everything that she had said.

"Believe me when I say it wasn't intentional, you could say that it was a complete accident. I know for a fact that neither my friend and I have the ability to time travel... we were brought here and we don't know by who, but we're pretty sure it's a God." Tracey replied, combing her hair out with her fingers to try and appear more presentable, but not being so successful. "Could you elaborate a little more on your statement please? What do you mean by 'new, but not'?"

Hestia thought about it for a moment. "You are new to this time, since you are from the future it also means that you are not new to my notice, just new to this time. A God did bring you here for a purpose. I am not allowed to speak of it, or to interfere in it but I was curious."

"Thank you for being as straightforward as you could. How long have you been watching over us?" Tracey asked, watching her knit. "We suspect it's not a Greek God, I don't suppose you could confirm or deny our theory could you?"

Hestia smiled gently. "Your friend prays to many Gods. In your time she is one of a relative few who does. We watch over those who remember us." She smoothed her knitting and a small frown creased her brow. "I can't tell you. I wish I could but Zeus has been very adamant on this order. I can tell you he is worried about the course of events and you and your friend are vital to the outcome of these events."

Tracey sighed and slumped a little on the bench. She ran her hands over her face and then let her head rest in her hands, getting slightly frustrated again, but not so much with Hestia.

"Well then I will try my absolute hardest to not die in this time... Do you think there's a possibility that we will find our way home again?"

Hestia snipped the yarn on her finished piece and stood. She wrapped it around Tracey's shoulders and smiled gently. "I'm the Goddess of the Hearth. I cannot see such things, only give succor to travelers and give what paltry comfort I have."

Touching the shawl she had just received from the Goddess and smiled.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Tracey replied, giving her another respectful bow of her head. "We'll be sure to stop by on our way back if we have time."

Hestia smiled softly and vanished leaving behind the smell of bread baking. Hercules woke with a start and blinked owlishly. "What time is it?"

Tracey slowly glanced at him, a slight pink blush tinting her cheeks as she answered him.

"If I have to judge from the sun in the sky I would have to say that it was about eight in the morning. Even though we have to leave soon and we'll be back on the road again, I'm going to grab a bath before we leave."

He nodded and looked at the shawl around her shoulders. "Thats new. Did one of the attendants give it to you?"

"You could say that but it wasn't one of the attendants but Hestia herself." She answered. "Hopefully we can come back to this temple on our way back and rest here again. Perhaps we can bring Artemis and Iolaus too."

Standing up and taking the knapsack with her, Tracey stretched her arms up toward the ceiling and feeling a few of her bones pop. A relieved sigh escaped her lips and then let her arms fall.

"I pray today will be smooth. Well we should find the baths and bathe quickly so we can eat on the way out..." She said, another blush tinting her cheeks while she mentally face-palmed herself. 'Idiot, now what is he going to think now... just turn, walk away, and find a staff member to help you find the baths.'

She saw him flush before he stood and motioned for her to leave the alcove first. They found an attendant who showed them to the bathes and much to her dismay the bath was co-ed. Hercules flushed bright red and stammered that he'd wait until she was done.

A deep blush rose to Tracey's cheeks before she could stop it and she shook her head.

"It's alright Hercules. For the sake of time and speed we have to keep moving forward... I won't look if you don't look."

What else could she do? They had to head to Delphi and bathing separately would take too much time and that was something they couldn't afford. She set down her towel and wash clothe and turned her back to him.

They bathed as quickly as possible without looking at each other. He got out first wrapping a towel around his waist and left her to get out and dried off in privacy. Within an hour they were back on the road.

Artemis woke briefly when Tracey and Hercules left for Delphi then fell back into a fitful sleep. She woke intermittently as the day wore on and sipped at warm broth that Iolaus helped her drink before falling asleep again. The fever and the beating had sapped a lot of her strength. When she woke up in the late afternoon she asked him to help her sit up and realized she wasn't wearing her sorceress outfit but was instead wearing her red bra and leggings. She debated feeling uncomfortable but mentally shrugged and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders once Iolaus got her sitting up against the cave wall. "Thank you for taking care of me." She said quietly.

He looked up from the stick he was whittling and gave her a lopsided smile. "You're an easy patient compared to Herc."

She smiled a little and sipped the hot broth he'd given her. "That's only because I've been asleep most of this time. Tomorrow I'm going to be bored and restless and you'll think Hercules is a joy."

He inspected the figure he was carving and shrugged, Artemis watching him for a few moments before speaking again. "I had a dream while I was unconscious. I was trying to find my way out of a marsh, up to my knees in mud and my head was pounding and then crows started attacking me. I was trying to beat them off when I heard a song. All around me and the birds vanished. I tried to follow the music but I kept getting mired in the mud, then it just melted away and I felt like I was wrapped in a blanket…" She trailed off staring down into her broth.

He watched her, her hair was a mess and the bruises, now three days old were fading to ugly yellows and greens that crept into her hairline and down her neck and shoulders. She'd lost weight but she still looked lush and lovely to him. The glimpses of her red bra against her very pale skin made him blush a little and he cleared his throat. "I sang to you while you were out. You were thrashing and crying out. I… My mother used to sing to me when I was sick. I thought it might help."

She looked up and his breath caught in his throat at the intensity in her dark eyes. He couldn't help it, he thought she was beautiful and forced himself to remember the last woman he'd half loved like that. Xena had broken his heart and left it scarred beyond repair. He had done his very best to avoid falling in love like that again. She rubbed a thumb over the surface of the clay cup. "It helped."

He looked back at his carving and focused on the movements of putting knife to wood and peeling away tiny chips and strips so he wouldn't be tempted to stare. When she finished her broth and laid herself carefully back down to sleep he felt relieved. He left the cave quietly to set snares and gather more firewood. He sat down on a log and ran a hand over his face. "Why do I always fall for the ones that will hurt me?" He mused aloud.

"Well sweetcheeks there are lots of kinds of love." A sweet voice said from behind him and he turned to see Aphrodite.

Of all the Gods she was his favorite, she was capricious and thoughtless sometimes but she really did try to do her job and she was kind to Hercules. He chuckled. "That was rhetorical 'Dite."

She came over and sat on the log next to him. "Whatever, Love is love. Sometimes its familial, sometimes it's platonic, sometimes it's romantic, but it's love just the same."

"What I'm feeling for her isn't familial or platonic." He groused and she smiled.

"Well she's cute. A little plain but they can't all be as gorgeous as me." She nudged his shoulder.

"No one is as gorgeous as you 'Dite." He replied and looked down at his hands.

"Damn right. Now Curly are you gonna let one bad apple spoil what you might have with her?"

"She's not from this time 'Dite. She'll eventually have to go back to her time." He responded and felt his heart lurch a little.

"Maybe. Or maybe she'll stay here with you. Or maybe you can go join her. There's a lot of maybe's. Why let that stop the love? Humans are always better, happier, when they have love, even if it's just a little while." Aphrodite wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Like when I fell for Xena?" He asked shortly.

"Well… yeah. You thought you loved her but you loved Herc more and that love made you strong enough to let her go. And your love for her opened her heart enough to let Herc's message in. If you hadn't loved her she'd probably still be terrorizing people." Aphrodite looked very serious in that moment.

He looked at her in surprise and thought about what she'd said. She gave him a squeeze and smiled brightly at him. "If you like this future chick then she's a lucky girl. You just gotta learn to like yourself." She kissed his cheek which sent a jolt through him and stood up. "I have to go see a priestess about a love spell. Good luck Curly." She vanished in a puff of glitter and flower petals leaving him alone in the woods again.

He returned to the cave and watched Artemis as she curled up into a ball under the blanket. He was exhausted himself and settles down on a pallet of branches and blankets just in front of her to shield her from anything that might come through the cave opening. He dozed off quickly as usual only to wake a few hours later when he felt Artemis curl up against his back shivering. She seemed to be having a bad dream again and without really thinking about it he rolled over and gathered her into his arms petting her hair and making soothing noises. She settled and he looked down into her face. He didn't see any of the steely resolve he knew she possessed, he saw smile lines, crows feet that showed she smiled a lot and faintly around her eyebrows more recent lines of pain and sadness. He had the feeling she'd been through a loss recently. He made a mental note to ask about it later as he dozed off again holding her close and feeling like she just fit.

When he woke again Artemis was sitting up against the cave wall twisting plant fibers together into a rough yarn against her thigh. She didn't seem to be paying attention to what she was doing her eyes unfocused. He sat up and she snapped back into focus. "Morning." She murmured.

"Hey." He tried not to flush at how much he missed holding her.

He got up and went to check the snares coming back with a large hare. He sat down in front of the cave opening and started cleaning the game. From behind him he heard her start singing, her voice was sweet and she sang without concern for what he might think. He choked back a laugh at what she was singing.

"Now as I lay there on the deck I thought I'd passed the worst

But when the barrel reached the top, that's when the bottom burst

A shower of bricks came down on me, I knew I had no hope

In all of this confusion, I let go the bloody rope.

The barrel being heavier, it started down once more

And landed right on top of me as I lay on the floor

It broke three ribs and my left arm, and I can only say

That I hope you'll understand why Paddy's not at work today. "

He laughed when she finished and looked over his shoulder to see a mischievous grin on her lips. There was still a touch of sadness there though and he gave into curiosity. He came in and started cutting up the rabbit. "Why do you always look a little sad?" He asked.

She hesitated for a minute then shrugged. "I was in a long term relationship not long ago. He wasn't my usual type…"

"You have a type?" He asked impishly.  
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, I usually go after tall and broody." She gave him a full dose of snark then kept going. "He wasn't funny or charming, honestly he was kinda a stick in the mud, always studying and morbid to boot but I got to see the real him. He was determined and smart and didn't mind me dragging him along to all the weird shit I like to do. I badgered him for months until he gave in and agreed to date me. We were a team, lovers and fighters, us against the world. He had this goal to go to a foreign country, he'd been learning their language and customs his whole life but he never really thought he'd get the chance to go and I told him I couldn't go with him."

"Why not? You loved him obviously and as adventurous as you are going to a foreign country seems like something you'd do." Iolaus interjected and she grimaced.

"I can't speak that language, hell I can barely read a third of the words he taught me… and the culture is so… repressed. They're so polite it's painful and their customs don't even let them laugh loudly, or grin, or… be any of the things I am. I'm bold and in your face and I laugh loudly, I talk loudly, I live brighty. I couldn't be the kind of woman I'd have had to be to live there and be happy. Plus Tracey is my family. She's like Hercules is for you and I had a business I loved. But I knew he desperately wanted to go. I encouraged him because I wanted him happy… and I half thought he'd never get the chance." She looked down at the fibers in her hands and took a deep breath.

"I guess it serves me right, he got his chance and I told him to take it. He took it and ran. He's been there almost 2 years. At first we talked every night, don't ask how, then it was every other day… then once a week. After a while we just didn't talk anymore. And then he stopped asking me to come visit. That's when I knew he was moving on, so I broke things off." She wiped her eyes and blinked fast. "I know he's happy over there and I wouldn't have been."

He wiped his hands clean and watched her struggle with her emotions, she cleared her throat. "I think part of me still loves him, I miss him sometimes and I haven't really tried to find anyone new. I threw myself into my work and it was just easier not to get into another relationship. Besides, what guy is gonna put up with me? I'm a workaholic, I'll stay up until midnight working on a project, I'm sarcastic and stubborn and crude and I'm more of a guy than most of the guys in my time period. I'm too independent to rely on anyone else and I won't stroke a guys ego just to keep him happy."

He leaned his elbows on his knees. "None of things sound bad to me.: He said softly.

She looked at him surprised. And he smiled a little coming over to crouch in front of her. "You're strong willed and talented and Tracey thinks you hung the moon. You let the man you loved move away so he'd be happy even if you lost out. It takes a person with a big heart to do that but you know yourself well enough to know you'd be miserable and you didn't inflict that on him just to keep him. You parted as friends rather than ruin his happiness. That makes you a special kind of human." He reached out and brushed a few strands of hair off her cheek.

"You're beautiful inside and out." He murmured leaning in a little.

"No I'm not. I…" He didn't let her finish that sentence, his lips covered her and he reeled at how sweet she tasted. Like mulled wine in winter.

He knelt fully and pulled her in closer so he could hold her while he kissed her and she kissed him back her arms wrapping around him. When they parted she licked her lips and swallowed. "We shouldn't… I… I don't know if I can stay." She whispered.

"Even if it's just a week, it's still a week together and I'll take what I can get." He replied fiercely and kissed her again.

She gave into his kiss and made a soft noise that drove him crazy. He forced himself not to take the kiss any further and slowly let her go wrapping the blanket around her. "Later." He promised her cupping her cheek when she protested. "I want to get to know you. You're worth getting to know."

She smiled at him, a smile just for him and he felt it jolt through him like a bolt of lightning. 'Not too much later.' He thought as they settled down against the wall of the cave to talk.

When they finally got to Delphi Tracey was more than ready to get some answers. She'd enjoyed the time with Hercules but three hard days of travel had taken their toll and she was exhausted. They arrived too late in the day to see the Oracle so they got an Inn Room and had their first real meal since leaving Artemis and Iolaus. Flopping herself onto a bench at a table, Tracey placed her plate down and let out a tired groan. The blue scarf around her head hid her ears well enough, but she was starting to tire of it and wanted to take it off. That would have to wait till they went up to their room, keeping the fact that she was different was a little annoying, but she could understand why. If any of Draxxus' men were in the city they would cause trouble for them and the last thing they needed was to encounter them at the inn where people could get hurt. She started picking at her food, slowly cutting the meat and wondering how kosher it was before trying it.

"I think I prefer the fruit, bread and cheese." She muttered quietly.

Or at least she thought it was quiet enough. A moment later a man she never saw before stood at her elbow rubbing his breastplate and looking at her, his eyes were droopy and he smelled like he hadn't bathed in days. Tracey wrinkled her nose and at first she thought it was the food but then she noticed the guy standing beside her and shied away from him.

"That's okay darlin'..." The guy slurred, starting to lean closer to Tracey and beginning to breath in her face. "I prefer the meat and you look like you have plenty on you."

He eyed her from covered head to boot, licking his lips when he spied her curvaceous figure hungrily. Tracey's eyebrow rose and she shook her head, trying to block the stench from her nose.

"Sorry, I'm not looking for company tonight... least of all you." She stated, returning to her food and hoping that he'd just go away. 'God he smells horrible, I wonder if he's diseased or something.'

"Aw don't be like that, cutie... I promise to take good care of you..." He slurred, making a grab for her.

"I said no." Tracey said more forcefully, standing up and facing the guy, her eyes changing to a brilliant blue as the glass of water she had grabbed for her dinner started to ripple. "Go away, you're making me lose my appetite."

He blinked a little sobriety crawling back into his mind and he backed away bumping into Hercules who raised an eyebrow. "I believe the lady said no. Better listen to her."

The soldier stammered and stumbled away and Hercules sat down pulling her gently down onto the seat next to him. "Easy." He murmured rubbing her back.

"I almost blew chunks." Tracey said in a low voice, sitting back down on the bench and resting her chin in her hand and her elbow on the table. "If I don't catch a virus or disease before we leave this place it will be a miracle."

She kept her eyes down at her food and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

He rubbed her back soothingly and pulled her in against his side. "Just eat a little and we'll go get some rest." He looked around the common room assessing any possible threats.

Tracey slowly started to feel at ease with Hercules and his touch was very comforting to her. She looked at him, really studying his face and seeing the real him for the first time since she and Artemis had arrived in Ancient Greece. He was very handsome with very distinct features and gentle, caring eyes. With a sigh, Tracey went back to her food and finished off her water.

"I don't sense any threats yet." She said, eating the last piece of bread and cheese. "If you'll excuse me I'm going to go upstairs to our room and get ready to sleep."

He nodded and watched her climb the stairs to her room. He sat looking into his cup of water for a while before deciding to turn in too. As he laid down on the bed that was too short to be really comfortable be spared a thought for Iolaus and Artemis. He was worried about their safety but he knew if anyone could handle themselves it would be them.

Tracey had finally been able to get to sleep but it was restless with nightmares, she thought the smell was from one of the nightmares until something covered her face and she was jerked out of the bed. "You're going to make me a lot of money." A voice slurred as her hands were roughly yanked behind her back.

Adrenaline started to course through Tracey's veins as she struggled against her captor. It was times like this that she had wished Hercules had gotten them one room and they either shared the bed or she slept on the floor. But no matter, hindsight's twenty-twenty. Tracey was only dressed in a nightshirt that went down to mid thigh and it was starting to ride up, that was the last thing she was going to let happen lest the man get any ideas. She turned her head as far as she could to see her attacker and she glared.

"I thought I told you that I didn't care for your company." She growled, driving the heel of her foot into his booted feet and causing him to free her hands. "And I'm no ones' property."

Turning swiftly on her feet, Tracey twisted her body around until she could bring her leg to his side and sending him sprawling to the floor. She looked around for something to tie him up with, but there was nothing that she could find before the smelly soldier was up on his feet again and staggering across the floor to her. Tracey shook her head and made soft, flowing motions with her hands. The water in the wash basin on the small table behind him started to churn with sudden life and followed her hands. She tightened her fingers into a fist at her side and the water bound him quickly. A sudden thought occurred to her and Tracey decided to try it. Drawing in a deep and slow breath, she let it out and found that her breath had become white and misty, as if the temperature of the room had been lowered to freezing cold. The water that bound her attack froze and she relaxed.

"I have questions for you and if you don't answer truthfully then we will have problems... do you understand?"

Hercules chose that moment to burst through the door only to come to a sudden stop surprised by the lack of need to rescue her. He stared at the man half frozen in ice then decided to just go with whatever she had planned. He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'd answer her."

The soldier squirmed and tried to break free of the ice. "I don't know nothing."

"Oh you better hope you know something useful to us..." Tracey growled, her eyes becoming sharper and a lighter sky blue, almost white. "I have a few new tricks I would like to try... but they may not be approved of by others."

She glanced to Hercules in her doorway and winked, an indication that she was just trying to scare their captive not actually hurt him. But the more sincere she looked and sounded the better it would be to extract the information they needed.

"Now... do you work for Draxxus? Or someone else?"

He swallowed hard. "I don't work for nobody." He stammered. "Some guy offered me a lot of money to grab you, didn't say why just offered me 200 dinars."

Tracey smirked and nodded.

"See, you did have something to offer other than your nasty breath and inability to bath." She stated and letting out a soft sigh. "He didn't give you any other reason at all?"

It was more of a statement than a question and she started to pace when a sudden thought crossed her mind and she voiced it.

"Where were you suppose to take me once you had captured me?"

"The docks. I was supposed to dump you in a rowboat at the docks." He replied a quaver in his voice as the ice started to chill him. On the upside though the cold dulled the smell.

"Hercules, this could be our only chance to find out where Draxxus is and who he is working for." Tracey said, crossing her arms over her chest, not even realizing that her actions drew up the long nightshirt she was wearing higher up her thighs. "What if we lightly bind my hands behind my back so I could escape when I need to and have this guy drop me off at the docks. You can follow in another rowboat to wherever they take me and then we can get the answers we need."

"Not a chance. I'm not risking them actually taking you. We can go to the drop off location and wait to see who shows up for you and question them." He scowled and stood up away from the door frame.

Tracey growled angrily. Why did he have to block her at every turn? Why did he have to override her every decision? Granted he might have been right and there were certainly other options that they could look at, but this one was the one she had come up with and it seemed like the best course to take. She began to pace with her arms still crossed over her chest, her bare feet making no noise on the floor.

"Fine. If things go south I will do what I have to to get the answers I need..."

Tracey let her statement linger, eyes focused and face cold and expressionless. She slowly bent down at the waist toward her attacker and made sure he was looking into her misty white eyes and spoke low so he would pay attention to her instructions.

"We'll release you and send you on your way to the docks. You will be carrying a long canvas sack filled with flour to simulate a body and you will deliver it to the docks as if you were carrying me in a bag. You will deliver it to the rowboat and act as if you were successful. If we suspect you of any treachery you will get you comeuppance and you will be sorry." She whispered menacingly.

To emphasize her point, Tracey held her hand up in front of the man's face and made motions with her hand as if she was drawing out something. Indeed she was. With a rush of air from the man's lungs, Tracey withdrew the life giving oxygen from his organs until he was gasping for breath and coughed heavily.

"Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes." He wheezed.

Hercules went downstairs to get the sack of flour. He was surprised at how brutal Tracey was being but he couldn't say he blamed her. On the few occasions he'd been hunted he'd hated the feeling and she had double the worry since Draxxus had already taken and abused Artemis and had been working very hard to get his hands on Tracey. He came back up with the sack of flour and gave the soldier a hard look. "I won't stop her if you give us away." He said ominously.

Even though her back was turned away from their captive, Tracey's eyebrow rose and her ears wiggled and she caught every word. Pulling back her hair into a ponytail, Tracey dressed quickly behind a thin reed frame and put the knapsack she had brought them on the bed.

"We'll have an advantage here already." She said, standing up from putting on her boots. "We'll be by water, whoever comes to collect "me" from the rowboat then I will trap them and we'll get our answers. Unless they're being helped by the Gods, which the Greek Gods are forbidden to do from my understanding, then we could catch a glimpse of a different God..."

She nodded to Hercules.

"I'm ready..." She said before turning to look at their captive. "Remember your part. Do this and don't screw up your part, it will be the last thing you do."

He nodded, clearly terrified and when she released him he took the bag and slung it over his shoulder. He stumbled down the stairs then out of the Inn towards the docks. For a minute she thought he was going to give them away just because he was terrified of her. But he somehow pulled himself together and made his way to the docks where he deposited the bag in a dingy looking rowboat and looked around before scuttling away as fast as he could. Hercules and Tracey waited for what seemed like a short eternity before a boy no older than 11 ran out and jumped into the row boat and tried to manage the oars which were both too long for him. "That was very unexpected." Tracey whispered from their hiding place in the shadows of the surrounding buildings. "We'll have to follow as quietly as we can and hope that this plan works."

Counting to fifteen in her head, Tracey reached the last number and patted Hercules's arm gently before she moved silently. She didn't have to try to be quiet, it seemed to be easy like riding a bike. They moved in the reeds and kept to the banks, spying the boat from the vantage points that the shadows allowed. She kept eying the woods for anything that would put them in danger and prayed that everything could go smoothly. The boy managed to steer the rowboat a few hundred yards down the bay and pulled up to a sagging dock. He managed to get it tied in place and left it tied as he started jogging back towards Delphi proper. Hercules and Tracey waited and watched the rowboat until eventually a heavyset man emerged from the forest and grabbed the rowboat pulling it up onto the bank. Tracey and Hercules waited with baited breath as they watched the proceedings. She couldn't help it, but as the seconds ticked by, Tracey became fidgety and she looked at Hercules, almost waiting for his to give her the signal to move.

"If he's the only one we should move in quickly."

He nodded. "Do your thing." He said softly knowing and trusting that she could immobilize the larger man without having to put herself in danger.

"With pleasure." Tracey said, eyes starting to glow faintly in the moonlight.

Standing up from where she was hiding, Tracey's hands were splayed out in the direction in which the water lay. Her hands were level with her thighs and then rose till they were at her hips. With her breath steady, the water began to mist until it rolled over the lake and obscured the lake from view. Tracey began to push and pull the water, shifting her weight with the motions. Suddenly the water shifted and became tendrils of twisting liquid that writhed like tentacles and moved toward the rowboat and the bulky man, following Tracey's directions. Clamping her fingers into a fist, the water ensnared the man and wrapped a tendril around his mouth to keep him from doing anything other than blowing bubbles into the water.

"And like that, my slimy fish is caught. Let's go before anyone else shows up or tries to kill him before we question him."

They hurried out of the woods and watched the man struggle helplessly against the water. Hercules couldn't help but smile at how easily the man had been snared. "So we have questions, you have answers and you might want to save yourself and just give them to us." He quipped.

Tracey started their normal routine of questions.

"You work as a middleman for Draxxus right? Why did he want me captured?" She asked, sizing up their captured man and shaking her head. "Speak quickly, I don't have patience for stupidity anymore."

"Look, I just pick up deliveries. Draxxus says go to Delphi, I go to Delphi, He says pick up a package from a rowboat at an abandoned dock I pick up a package at an abandoned dock. He's not someone to cross." The man sounded genuinely worried.

Tracey scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the man.

"Who else works for him and where is Draxxus now?"

"I dunno who all works for him and he has safe houses all over Greece. There's even one here in Delphi. Always hidden, and I never see where they are. There's drop off points for packages and one of his inner circle takes them to the safe house. I was supposed to drop off the package at the Statue of Athena in Delphi after the Wolf Hour Bell." He looked worried and glanced up at the bright moon trying to gauge the time.

"Judging by your glances to the sky you need to make your delivery soon." Tracey stated, looking over to Hercules. "We'll let you be on your way with your bundle. Lead us there, make it look normal and I won't freeze your insides and rupture them one by one if I suspect you of betraying us to Draxxus."

She was quiet pleased with herself and actually started to like playing the role of evil deviant. Though she was only acting out the part, she didn't let their captive know that she was really a kind-hearted person who really didn't like violence. He started shaking his head terrified his breath coming in shallow gasps as panic seized him. "No way in Tartarus, you can freeze me, you can kill me. Its nothing compared to what Draxxus will do when he finds out I led you to him. He won't kill me but I'll wish for death. I saw him punish a guy who betrayed him and he made the man suffer. Torture is too mild a word for what he did to that guy."

Looking to Hercules, Tracey motioned with her hand off to her side and stepped away from their captive just far enough so he wouldn't hear, but close enough that she and Herc could watch him and keep him from escaping.

"I think he's going to remain this stubborn." She starts, whispering quietly and glancing back at the men bound in water. "I think we should knock him out and go over to the drop off point."

Hercules looked over at the terrified delivery guy and nodded. "We'll have to hurry. The Wolf Hour is pretty close."

"Well then you're up Hercules, I'll leave him to you and then we'll go." Tracey replies with a nod. "I'm guessing the Wolf hour is midnight."

He shook his head. "Three hours past midnight." He replied and walked over knocking the delivery guy out and lowering him onto the bank so he wouldn't drown. He came back to her side and motioned for her to follow him. "It's the hour when the wolves howl."

"Wolves..." Tracey mused, putting on a thoughtful face. "I wouldn't mind having one of those in my arsenal, especially if we're going to be camping out in the woods more often than not."

She followed Hercules wherever he lead, keeping close eye on their surroundings but not sensing anything amiss. They made their way through the empty streets of Delphi until the arrived at the square where the statue of Athena stood tall and austere in the center. A bell tolled quietly ringing in the Wolf Hour. They waited in the shadows as the minutes ticked by and Hercules looked down at her. "What's your plan if no one shows?"

Tracey's keen eyes scanned the shadows, the buildings and anything that moved her eyes focused on that and only that until something else drew away her attention. Slowly she looked at Hercules and sighed.

"If no one comes then we'll stick to our original plan and see the Oracle. After we get back to the inn we'll rest and for safety sake I request your permission to crash in your room... Don't worry, I'll take the couch."

She was glad that it was dark outside and the shadows hid the growing blush on her cheeks as it spread over her face. They kept waiting but no one appeared at the Statue and as the bell tolled the Hour of the Mouse they had to admit defeat. Inner frustrations boiled up but Tracey couldn't release them here and now because it would give away their hiding place. She blinked tiredly and sighed, rubbing a hand over her eyes and trying to drive away the sleep. Squinting into the darkness, Tracey tried to see through the shadows and finally gave up.

"I've never had much patience with these types of things... they're too slow and boring." She stated, letting out a breath. "Let's go... we need sleep."

He nodded and led them back to the Inn, neither of them was aware that while they'd been watching the statue, someone else had been watching them.


	7. Chapter 6: Getting Answers

When they finally managed to get to the Temple where the Oracle greeted petitioners Tracey was hot, tired and not just a little grumpy. Hercules seemed to be entirely unaffected by the long line, the longer wait and the general mood of anxiety apparent in all the petitioners. Hercules rubbed her shoulders as they moved to next in line. "Take a few deep breaths. The Oracle is cryptic and will only answer three questions. You need a clear mind to find the best questions and unravel the answers."

Tracey watched everyone as they shuffled through the line and crossed her arms, drumming her fingers against her arms. She didn't sleep well last night and sleeping on the floor didn't help though one might think that she'd have been used to it now seeing as they've been camping for several weeks. With a very low sigh of content, Tracey relaxed under Hercule's hands and let him continue to rub her shoulders, it reminded her of the full back massages that her fiance gave her. She started to think about what three questions she would ask.

"You would think that we would have six questions between the two of us." She speculated and closed her eyes, nearly relaxing completely under the rhythmic motions of his hands. "Oh well, three questions it will be. Who's to blame for bringing Artemis and I here? What were we brought here to do? And why?... Is there anything I should ask differently from these three questions? I really wish Arty was here with me too, she would have known what to ask."

Hercules turned her around and tilted her face up to look at him. "You are every bit as smart and strong as she is. Don't doubt yourself so much, I've learned something about Oracles and sometimes you just have to trust your gut and ask the first three questions that come to mind."

Tracey looked into Hercules's eyes and smiled softly at him, he had such beautiful eyes and she felt at peace.

"I guess I'm just anxious to finally get the answers we need to keep moving this process forward."

He gave her a small smile and turned her around to face front. "One way or another we'll find some answers."

'Would it really be too bad to stay here in this world? With all the interesting people, the beautiful horses... and him?' Tracey asked herself, allowing herself to be turned around and face the line. 'Would it really be too bad...?'

The temple was beautiful and reminded her a lot of Hestia's temple with all its hanging tapestries, cleanly and polished floors, vases of flowers and rugs that lined the floor along the walls. Attendants ran around with linens, rags, water and fresh flowers while at spaced intervals there were ladies in armor and carried spears held erect at their sides. They were neatly clad in similar garb and had swords slung in sheathes in their belts. Tracey and Hercules only had to wait a few more minutes for the line to dwindle and then it was their turn to approach the Oracle. She wore a plain black dress with a braided cord around her waist, a black over-robe that would trail a little behind her if she walked. The Oracle stood behind a pedestal in the middle of the room and had her hands regally placed on the pedestal. Upon their approach, Tracey bowed slightly at the waist and waited to be addressed so she could ask her three questions.

'Oh please let her have the answers we need.'

The Oracle looked at her steadily before she spoke softly. "You may ask three questions. I will give you three answers. How you choose to interpret them is up to you."

Tracey glanced back at Hercules before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly to calm her nerves.

"Thank you for seeing us today. My first question would be, who's to blame for bringing Artemis and I here to Ancient Greece? My second would be, what were we brought here to do? And my last question will be why us?"

On the inside, Tracey hoped that these were the right questions and that they might get a few straight answers for once. She looked intently at the Oracle and waited for her to do her think and speak again. The Oracle regarded the basin of water in the pedestal for several moments before speaking again. "All three questions have but one answer. You were brought forth by the King of the Gods in Greece to save all of History. Only the Daughters of the Future with all of History behind them can save everything that matters from one who would destroy History to write a new future."

Tracey furrowed her brow at first and then gave her a courteous bow.

"Thank you, have a blessed day." She replied, turning on her heel and walking away. "Riddles, why is it always riddles. Riddle me this... why the hell didn't I ask her who was hunting us or at least where to find the scumbag?! Stupid Tracey, very stupid. But we might be able to come back and bring Artemis so she can ask three more questions... if nothing happens to the Oracle in the meantime, but those guards seem to be able..."

She murmured the last part to herself and then laughed sarcastically.

"So Zeus brought us here and so he'll have the power to send us back, so that will take care of getting home. Why does history need to be saved? Who screwed it up to begin with... 'Daughters of the future with all of history behind them', that's Artemis and myself. And who wants to destroy this history and rewrite a new one? Draxxus perhaps?" She thought out loud, not even realizing the Hercules was with her. "Riddles... they're so tricky and can be literal or figurative, the problem is figuring out which one is which."

Hercules walked with her and unobtrusively steered her back to the Inn. The Innkeeper was talking to a messenger who perked up when he saw Hercules. "Hercules! I've been looking for you. I have a message for you from your partner. He said to meet him and her friend in Thebes."

Tracey was brought out of her train of thought and listened to the innkeeper as he delivered his message. With all that was happening to them, she was slowly becoming more paranoid and thought that she would have to test them. Stepping closer to the innkeeper and messenger she looked at both and gave them a disarming smile to help them to relax.

"Can you tell me what the woman with Iolaus looks like please? We know and have helped so many people that it's hard to put a name to face without a description."

The messenger smiled as he leaned against the bar. "Tall for a woman, dark hair, darker eyes and she was wearing some kinda red outfit that was on fire."

The Innkeeper scoffed. "You're tellin' tall tales again Drake."

Drake shook his head and stood up straight. "No sir. Sure a I'm standing here she was wearing a cloak made of fire and a belt of the stuff too but it never burned Iolaus, the short blond fella with her, and he had his arm around her and all. She looked like she'd been roughed up and he was helping her down the road and asks me to please run to Delphi and tell Hercules and the lady with him that they're going to Thebes. I felt bad for her, I've got a sister 'bout her age and I'd be mighty mad if someone beat her up like that."

Tracey smiled and nodded.

"That's Iolaus and my friend Arty. Mr. Innkeeper he is telling the truth about my friend, she has the ability to control and manipulate fire at will... I hope Nargis is okay too. Thank you Drake. Hercules, I'll grab my stuff from my room, top off our supplies and then we can head to Thebes."

She started up the stairs then stopped and turned back to face them to voice a question.

"How many days will it take to get to Thebes from Delphi?"

Hercules came over to speak quietly to her. "If you do that trick with the horses again three days."

Tracey smiled and nodded. She turned up the stairs again and went to her room, picking up the knapsack after giving the room a quick once over to make sure everything was in its place. With a shrug of her shoulders, Tracey strapped the knapsack over her shoulders and stepped lightly down the stairs, meeting Hercules and the innkeeper at the bar area. The innkeeper handed her a tidy little bundle of bread, cheese and fresh fruit.

"Thank you sir, may peace and fortune favor you and your house." Tracey said with a smile as she put the bundle in her knapsack and rearranged hers and Hercules's blankets to accommodate everything. "Are you ready Hercules?"

He nodded and they left making quick time to the outskirts of the city where horses were waiting for them.

Artemis and Iolaus were making steady if slow progress towards Thebes. The day after her fever had broken she'd insisted on leaving for Thebes. She couldn't explain why they had to go to Thebes she just knew they had to go and go right then. Iolaus had gathered up what little they had while she dressed and then they'd started towards Thebes running into a messenger on their way. Iolaus had sent him to Delphi to let Hercules know where they would be as he help Artemis down the road. He was worried about her, she was arrow focused and seemed driven by something he couldn't sense to get to Thebes. When they settled each night to rest he'd gather her into his arms and sing softly trying to sooth her to sleep. One night nothing had worked and she'd sat up with him and taught him a few new songs. One of them had made him think of stories he'd heard from far away lands.

Oh, misty eye of the mountain below  
Keep careful watch of my brothers' souls  
And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke  
Keep watching over Durin's son  
If this is to end in fire  
Then we should all burn together  
Watch the flames climb high into the night  
Calling out father, oh, stand by and we will  
Watch the flames burn auburn on  
The mountain side.

She'd sung the whole song staring into the fire and he'd found himself singing the chorus with her, goose bumps lining his arms as her voice rose clear into the night. He always felt like there was something more to her than the flames that adorned her when she sang, as if a deeper power filled her when she sang. He hand pulled her in to rest against his chest while they watched the fire his hands teasing tangles and small knots out of her hair until her felt her relax into sleep against him. When they finally approached Thebes they were both tired, dirty and ready to get off the road. He didn't know if Draxxus was watching the home Jason had shared with Alchemene before she passed away so he took her to the small hut with the attached forge he'd lived in. As they walked he told her about Alchemene and how he'd met Hercules and how they'd grown up. When they crested the hill she'd stopped and stared out at the view overlooking Thebes, the meadows and hills and the town lying in the valley. A wind had picked up and tossed her cape and hair in careless swirles as she stood transfixed and he's stopped to watch her his breath catching in his throat as he remembered his first wife who had died in childbirth. She'd stood the same way and looked out over the hills and valleys, when Artemis turned away from the view he blinked and walked with her to the hut opening the door, an apology on his lips for the state of the place. She looked around and smiled. "If you could find me a dress to change into I can clean this place up in no time."  
He grinned and thinking that Alchemene had been about her size he' jogged to her home and told Jason he needed to borrow dress for a lady friend who he would introduce later. Jason had made him promise to bring her by and after swearing that he would he hurried back to his home. When Artemis changed into the dress he thought his heart would stop. She looked like she belonged in it and the business like way that she'd begun cleaning made him smile. "I'm going to go get water from the well and some firewood."  
She nodded and smiled still cleaning and while he wa on his way to the well he kept a lookout for Hercules and Tracey. It would take them a few days to get to Thebes since they'd likely left a day or two after he and Artemis had. He didn't know just how late they were going to be.

Tracey and Hercules found themselves trying to find their way around a battlefield without getting mired in the fighting but at one point a soldier recognized Hercules and insisted that they meet with his commander who was desperate for Hercules help. "We can't afford this war." He admitted. "But something has the Peplonians in a ruckus and they just won't stop attacking our villages. We need help and we need to know who keep working them into a frenzy."  
"Who can really afford a war?" Tracey asked quietly, fingering the soft fabric of the scarf that Iolaus had gotten for her to hide her pointed ears.  
She never really did like wars, she didn't even like to watch movies of war or books on it. They were barbaric, nothing good ever came from them and everyone suffered even if they didn't participate in them. Whole families were torn apart by wars. Soldiers were injured and many died, most could even come back with missing limbs or other parts such as fingers, eyes and the like. Families of soldiers who had never come home suffered emotionally and they grieved the most. She hated to imagine it and the very thought knotted her stomach and nearly made bile rise in her throat. Tracey cleared her throat and swallowed hard before looking at Hercules.  
"We can't afford to spend much time here, but we should help where we can. We're far too divided as is and I don't feel comfortable splitting up so you can stay here to help and I go to Thebes by myself." Tracey whispered, glancing at the soldier and the others walking around the numerous tents and at their Commander. "I don't even know the way myself without a map, let alone know how to read one of Ancient Greece, and so I will have to stay with you until we can get to Thebes."  
Hercules told the Commander to call a cease fire and unable to convince Tracey to stay behind they walked to the enemy camp. About halfway there Hercules and Tracey heard a maniacal annoying laugh and a youngish looking man with bleached white hair and leather cloths that looked like they were being held together with pins appeared. "I figured you'd show up to meddle Hercules." He taunted.  
Hercules sighed. "Demos, I really don't have time for this."  
Demos laughed again and the sound grated on Traceys nerves. "You're about to have no time at all."  
Tracey closed her eyes and tried her hardest to block out the annoying God and his idiotic laugh, but try as she might she wasn't as successful as she wanted to be. His taunting, his attitude, his clothes, his laugh, everything about Demos was annoying and now it was only maximized by her actually being there and not just watching it and hating him from the comfort of her living room. Finally the last shred of her patience was worn thin and there was nothing that anyone could have done to stop what was about to happen next.  
"I think not." Tracey snapped, her arm shot out and her hand wrapped around the God's throat, much to his surprise.  
Her grip on Demos' neck tightened and using her leg, she quickly swept his feet out from under him and pushed him backward at the same time by the neck. He collapsed to the ground completely stunned and eyes wide, Tracey's hand still tightly gripping his throat. Demos looked up into her face and his mouth opened and closed while he made gasping noises. He saw that her eyes had turned to a dark red color, orange and goldish yellow was prominent around her irises. A heat rose from her hand around his throat and caused him to gasp sharply.

"I see you Hercules... don't move any closer. I have something I want to see here." Tracey said, the edge of her lips curling slightly to an evil smirk. "I want to see how much pain and suffering I can cause a God before he dies... so he knows what the soldiers and their families feel when war breaks out for no reason."  
She applied more heat to her hands and upon uncurling her fingers from her right hand, Tracey revealed a ball of fire there. It slowly consumed her hand and she waved it closer to Demos' face before walking her fingers up the leather jacket, following the zipper up his chest. Her fingers left burn marks on the jacket and he soon began to sweat something fierce. The entire three weeks that Tracey and Artemis had been here, had been camping, had been hunted angered her greatly. It slowly started to be too much and this fueled the fire that she felt burning inside her. Tracey just needed this little event to trigger a reaction and this was just the thing she was looking for to help her dip into the element she hadn't been able to try yet, Fire. The intensity of the fire started to scorch Demos' clothes and he started to yelp in fear and in pain, his skin taking on a reddish tint as he squirmed in her grasp. There was a smell of burning hair and flesh and Tracey removed her hand, letting the flames around her hand becoming softer, but still remaining.

"Now that I have your attention..." She started, the evil smirk still holding to her lips. "You're going to come with us to resolve this little skirmish with the two armies and then you're going to stay the hell away from the mortals like Zeus told you too... do I make myself clear?"  
"Oh come on Demos. You're a God for Olympus sake." Ares suddenly appeared and yanked Tracey off of Damos tossing her casually towards Hercules who caught her and put himself between her and a very pissed off Ares. "Go figure little brother. You're here to interfere and you've dragged some more mortals into it." He reached down and hauled Damos to his feet.  
"Damos, you pathetic excuse for a God, you're a God, You could have just fried her ass instead of letting her kick yours. Go somewhere away from me for the foreseeable future." He snarled and shoved the younger God away in disgust.  
Tracey's eyes still shone red and she stepped off to Hercules's side so she could stay in view of the new God's arrival.  
"We should have known that Demos was involved with the armies and that Ares, the God of war, wouldn't be too far behind either." She said, the flames around her hand starting to smoke. "This is too rich."  
She laughed and clapped her hands together to emphasize her glee, a few sparks flying up with each motion of her hands. "So what part do you play in all this, O'Mighty God of war." She laughed sarcastically.  
Hercules gave her a worried look and rested a hand on her shoulder while Ares glowered. "Look this war was not my idea. Not that I don't like it but I'm not the one getting the power from it, neither is Damos. I came here to see where the power is going and here you two are and she is clearly not human so I have to wonder what's going on here."  
Tracey took a deep breath and calmed the raging inferno she felt on the inside. Letting out the breath helped and she gave Hercules a nod to show that she was a little better, she'd be even better when they got finished here and could move on to either the next inn or another campsite and be closer to Thebes. She looked at Ares and smile, it was still an almost cruel smirk and she clapped again, very slowly in a mocking and sarcastic rhythm.

"Oh Hercules he is a smart one, but you're only partially right. I am human but then again I'm not." She said casually, eying Ares with a look of approval flitting across her facial features. "Obviously the power isn't coming to us."  
"I can see that." He snarled at her and looked at Hercules. "Look I've made it clear that this war needs to stop. For once we're on the same side but something is using these wars to gain power. Dad han't come out of his office in weeks and then you show up with this… person and I know she has a friend who is giving the Fates a collective headache and they're not thrilled. If I wasn't busy stopping all the wars that I didn't instigate I'd be more inclined to help but I've got my hands full."  
"Tsk tsk, someone has a bad attitude." Tracey smirked, unflinching at his remarks. "That's my Artemis for us, never a dull moment."  
She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted all her weight onto her left leg and then turned to Hercules.  
"I think whoever is drawing on this power is the same person or being that is involved somehow. We just need to figure out how and why."  
"Well when you figure it out let me know so I kick his ass straight to Tartarus." Ares snapped and vanished.  
Hercules sighed and gave her a concerned look. "First we need to get to Thebes."  
"Aw, you just wanna come back and see me!" Tracey shouted into the air and smirked before letting out a sigh. "Then lets quickly tell these soldiers to knock it off and then we'll be back on the road again. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go."  
Hercules pointed to a lone soldier making his way across the battlefield with a white flag in hand. "I think the message has been delivered."  
He took her arm and led her back towards the horses. "Would you mind explaining what all that was about? Threatening Demos is one thing. Outright taunting Ares is dangerous."  
Jerking her arm gently out of his grasp, Tracey started to rub her temples as she walked to the horse's, eyes clenching together in pain. She didn't answer at first and she staggered a little, not because of the landscape they were walking over but because of her throbbing headache. The fire inside her simmered and went out, leaving her with a small trickle of blood trailing from her nose. She turned to him as she was wiping the blood from her nose on her wrist to keep it from dripping onto her clothes.  
"I guess you could say it was fun..." Tracey started as her eyes slowly dwindled from red and went back to their normal bluish green color. "Perhaps it's because I can see why Artemis was having so much trouble getting her abilities over Fire under control. Or, I don't know, you could say that I'm not handling being hunted, for a reason that we still haven't figured out, very well. It's maddening!"  
When they got to the horses, Tracey was slowly regaining her balance and her breathing was evening out to the point she could calm herself down again. Hercules stopped her before she could mount her horse and tilted her chin up to look at her carefully. "I don't think you should use fire again Tracey. It took a lot out of you and you're clammy to the touch. I promise you, we will figure this out. I'm not going anywhere while you still need me and it will all work out okay?"  
"I believe you Hercules." Tracey said slowly, looking into his calm eyes and being comforted by them.

She didn't know why but he did comfort her a lot, making much of the worry she felt melt away into nothing. Shivering slightly, Tracey took a rag from her knapsack and wiped it over her face and neck to take care of the sweat there before taking care of the blood on her wrist. She nodded to show that she was ready to go and alighted onto Sojin's back, completely bare of saddle and bridle for he needed none. She liked how free the horse made her feel and delighted when the horse ran wild and the wind whipped her hair behind her as they rode.

'I think I have a new found respect for you Artemis, Fire is so hard to control and I think you're going to have to teach me how to control it so I don't burn anyone by accident.' Tracey thought to herself as they started off.

They hadn't been able to make it to a town before nightfall but they had run into a group of traveling merchants and their guards at a crossroads and for safety sake they decided to camp out with them. The merchants and guards were talking, exchanging stories and singing loudly, Hercules and Tracey had been invited to eat with one of the merchants, a portly man of middle years who plied both of them with copious amounts of food and drink. "So there I was, this massive lion sizing me up to be his next meal when I decided that to Tartarus with it, if he wants a meal I'll be a spicy one so I started eating the peppercorns I had planned to take to market. Apparently the lion decided I wasn't such an appealing meal and I have to say I agreed with him, My mouth was on fire. You know to this day I can't abide peppercorns?" He laughed and Hercules laughed with him.  
Tracey picked at her food and listened to the stories and the low of hums of song throughout the camp. This was semi peaceful to her and she breathed in the night air which calmed her. She was enjoying herself, but started to stare into the fire as if she was in a trance. The flickering flames seemed to rise and fall with her breathing and all of a sudden the heat started to rise inside her again. Rather than let it take over, Tracey leaned over to Hercules so she could whisper to him without the others hearing her and put down her plate next to her.  
"I'm going to go to the river for a few minutes."  
He looked at her for a second and half stood then sat back down when he realized what was happening. "Stay in sight of the torches." He said softly. "If You're not back in half an hour I'm coming after you."  
"Alright."

Tracey thanked their host for the food and drink before moving off to the gently flowing river that lay just beside the campsite that the merchants and their caravan stopped along. She looked back over her shoulder periodically to make sure she could still see the torches in between the trees and once she was sure that no one would stumble upon her, Tracey slowly undressed and tucked her clothes next to a patch of stones that were just high enough from the river that they wouldn't get wet or get washed away downstream. Tracey used clean sand from the river bed to scrap over her skin and wash away the dead skin cells and the dirt from the days travel. All the while she was there, she felt at ease. The water felt great and against her bare skin and as it flowed, Tracey became more and more relaxed like all her troubles were washing away with the water. Much in this same manner, she lost track of time and it too was washed downstream.  
She was so engrossed in her cleansing that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her and by the time she realized she wasn't alone it was too late. A rock cracked into the back of her head and she felt herself sliding out of consciousness. Someone muttered something she couldn't hear very well as a length of very rough fabric was wrapped around her and she was hauled out of the water. She was tossed over the back of a horse and she felt a little sick to her stomach as the galloping horse jounced and jolted her stomach. She blissfully lost consciousness and when she woke again she was still wrapped in rough fabric, her hands and feet bound with chains. A low groan escaped from Tracey's lips as her eyes tried to focus on her surrounding. It was cold and she shivered a little, her hair still wet from the bath she had been taking before she was hit from behind. Her head throbbed painfully and slowly she tested the length of her chains to see how far she could move before they restrained her movements. Slowly Tracey's eyes started to focus again and she let out a staggered breath.  
'Well this is just perfect Tracey... keep your wits about you now and try to find a way to escape.' She thought to herself and gingerly touching the back of her head, feeling the growing goose egg rising there. 'Well that's just great.'  
Tracey touched the rough wool fabric and traced her hand down the length of it to see how far it went and was glad to find that it at least went down to her mid thigh. She touched the cold shackles around her ankles and shivered again against the cold metal. Trailing her fingers along the links of the chain, Tracey found that they were locked to the floor and her wrists were also connected to the same length of chain. She couldn't see anything but the darkness, even with her keen eyes, without a little bit of light they wouldn't be much help to her.  
'Don't even ask the universal question...'

"Well well well. You're finally awake. We thought Thaddeus had scrambled your brains." A familiar voice said from the dark.  
Tracey's ears wiggled and she turned her face toward the direction that the voice came from. She coughed to clear her throat and then chuckled lightly. "You can't scramble what's already scrambled... Draxxus. What do you want?"  
"Fame, fortune, immortality. You know, the little luxuries. Right now I want to know where your friend is. Separately you two are worth a pretty dinar. Together I could purchase a small Island and fortify it and retire in supreme luxury. So where is your feisty little friend?" He crouched down with a small tin lantern as the only illumination.  
The light almost hurt her eyes, but they quickly adjusted to what little light there was and her eyes keenly picked out the details of his face. Tracey drew back and straightened her posture as much as she could and leaned back against the wall behind her.  
"Tell you what..." She said slowly, raising an eyebrow at him. "Let's play a little game... I'll answer your questions as best as my scrambled brains can recall if you answer mine. We'll even alternate so everything is fair."  
At the moment it appeared that Draxxus was the only one in the room that she could see and sense. He considered it for a moment. "Why not. A little Q&A to pass the time until our transportation arrives. I'll start, Where is your friend?"  
"Unfortunately I don't know where she is." Tracey said, blinking several times and leaning back again. "After we saved her from your dirty paws I had to leave her in a cave and go to Delphi. My turn, who do you work for? The truth now, I'll be able to tell if you lie to me, my ears don't miss much."  
"I work for a very ancient God. One who is willing to pay me sickening sums of Dinars in advance to capture two women from a foreign land with special gifts with the promise of more to come upon delivery." He replied smoothly. "What is your homeland like?"  
Tracey considered his answer and nodded slightly.  
"My homeland..." She laughed. "You'll have to be a little more specific than that, I've traveled very far and consider a lot of places to be my 'homeland'... My turn, I've already figured out it's not a Greek God, so does your boss have a name?"  
"He does." Draxxus replied with no further elaboration. "Did you get the answers you were looking for from the Oracle at Delphi?"  
Blowing a raspberry in his direction, Tracey drew in a slow breath and shook her head. "I didn't get all the answers I needed. What is your God's name?"  
"What makes you think I know his name?" Draxxus asked his eyes gleaming in the low light.

"Tsk tsk, that's not part of the game..." She retorted, wagging a finger at him. "You're not allowed to answer a question with a question for it isn't an answer... I'll be more specific then, what do you call your God?"  
He smirked. "I call him Master. It's all I need to call him." He stood as someone walked into the darkened space, he walked over and they conferred quietly for a moment then he returned. "As enjoyable as this has been Our transportation has arrived. Do behave. I don't want to damage you any further."  
"Perhaps you'll be so gracious as to answer one more little question for me because I too have enjoyed our little chat, despite the cold shackles." Tracey said, looking passed Draxxus at the person who arrived before looking back at him. "Where am I?"  
His smile grew. "Why we're about a mile from the crossroads. There are so many unexplored nooks and crannies in the countryside. It's amazing how easy it is to hide someone in plain sight."  
Tracey nodded and tucked her legs closer to her body with a slight clinking of the chains. "Well then I'll try to be on my best behavior." She said, placing her hands in her lap and smiling pleasantly. 'I did say try, I didn't say I promised.' She hoped that they would all leave her be and that the preparations to move her would take a little time for her to escape.  
They left her alone in the dark and she could hear preparations under way. Not long after he left a large man with blocky features stalked in and she watched as he used his strength to pull a curled metal spike out of the rock. It was what her chains were attached to. He tugged her to her feet and dragged her out of what she realized was a very shallow cave. A wagon sat in front with a handful of small tin lanterns illuminating the area, a small iron cage sat on the back of the wagon and the large man holding her chains dragged her towards it. She didn't see Draxxus anywhere and reasoned that he must have left ahead of them. Looking at the landscape around her and nodding slightly, Tracey noted that there were at least four other men there not including the bulky man who was keeping her moving forward toward the cage. She also noted that even though her feet were still in shackles, there was room for her to bring her hands up to about stomach height which she could work with.  
"Excuse me sir." Tracey said, looking up at the bulky man who was manhandling her. "You did hear what I said to Draxxus right? 'That I would try to be on my best behavior' right? Well I wasn't lying, I would try, but I didn't say I promised so, I'm not really going to feel bad for what I'm about to do..."  
Tracey trailed off and suddenly stomped her foot into the ground creating a wedge in the earth for her to use. She used it to get a leg up on the man. Stepping up on the angled wedge of dirt, Tracey twisted her body around while grabbing the man's arm and drove her knee up into the man's face, knocking him backward to the ground. As soon as the heavy set man was down for the count the other four men came after her. Though her hands and feet were bound in chains, Tracey was still able to use her earthly abilities to manipulate the ground to her needs. The ground under their feet opened wide and swallowed them up to their shoulders. Pushing her hands together and keeping a little bit of space between her palms, Tracey surveyed her work and smiled.

"Now..." She huffed, walking to the nearest captive after she dug through the biggest man's belt loop for the keys to her chains and unlocked them, massaging the life back into her wrists and ankles. "Thanks for the fun boys, but I need to be going now."

Taking one of the horses, she staggered a bit out of tiredness and fatigue, to unbuckle the girth and slip the saddle off the horse and did the same for the bridle. She had to use a rock to get up onto the horses back and ended up using the rest of her strength to keep her balance. Leaning forward against the horse's neck, she stroked its hair and gripped its mane, whispering quick words to it and then the horse moved forward. Tracey had asked the horse to find Hercules and as quickly as he could.

The horse made a beeline for the crossroads and within an hour she was approaching the campsite which seemed to be in a state of controlled panic. She didn't immediately see Hercules but her ears picked up the sound of him cursing the guards, Draxxus,and most especially himself. The portly merchant was doing his best to sooth the larger man to little effect. She was about to call out to him when he saw her and she watched the strangest expression fly across his face. Panic, relief, and anger fought their way across his face as he ran to the horse and dragged her down, she didn't even have a chance to say anything before his lips came crashing down on hers and she felt the tension melt out of him and he held her as close as he'd been wanting to for days and thought he might never get the chance to when he'd realized she'd been taken.  
Letting out a shiver, Tracey let the warmth of his body warm her as she weakly drew her arms around his bulky, well muscled frame and kissed him back, a pale pink flush on her cheeks she was sure wasn't there because of the cold. She liked the feel of his smooth lips on hers and she missed this sensation and relished it completely. His frame was perfectly built to house her smaller one and she liked how safe she felt in his arms that surrounded her. Tracey was only vaguely aware that she was still in the burlap sack and the rough, coarse fabric was starting to rub in all the wrong places. She settled back down on the flats of her feet, because she had to stand on the tips of her toes to reach his face, and looked up into Hercules's eyes, giving him a relieved smile.

"Sorry for taking a field trip without you..." Tracey breathed, legs shaking as if they would give way at any moment.  
"You were gone long enough that I started to worry, when I went looking for you all I found was your clothes and blood on the ground. Gods…" He took a deep breath and his hands flexed around her shoulder while he tried to calm down. "No more field trips. No more splitting up, I don't think I could take another scare like that. One of the caravan guards is missing too." He looked around into the dark as if he were trying to find Draxxus.  
Tracey began to shiver harder than before, the burlap sack still clung to her body which was still damp from her trip to the river. She looked to her hands as they slowly came to rest at in front of her face and a sudden thought occurred to her.  
"We need to talk to the merchant and find out which guard is missing, I have a feeling that guard followed me to the river and knocked me out before delivering me to Draxxus... oh and you said you have my clothes? I could really use them right now because it's really cold and I'm still wet from the river and the cave they kept me in."  
Hercules led her over to the fire where her clothes sat in a neat bundle. "Get dressed and warm, I'll have the merchant come over but you are staying by the fire."  
"Believe me, I'm not going to be anywhere else until we leave for Thebes together." Tracey replied, huddling down by the fire and combed through her clothes. "I'll be finished in a few minutes."

Taking a bowl from her knapsack, Tracey filled it with water and used a rag to take care of the dirt and grime from the cave and the sack. She made sure no one was around her before pulling the sack over her head and shivering when the wind suddenly hit her naked body. Huddling closer to the fire, Tracey quickly dressed and wrapped a blanket around her form to keep the wind from hitting her directly anymore. The merchant whose guard had gone missing, he looked worried and apologetic. "I am sorry miss. I did not know Thaddeus would do something so vile to a guest."  
Tracey looked up at the merchant and motioned for him to sit down and relax. She pulled the blanket closer to her and shook her head at his apology.  
"You couldn't have known, nobody could have known what other people are like and who their true master is. I don't blame you so you shouldn't blame yourself. But I would like to know where he came from and where you met and hired him from, it could tell me where he will go next and what other scumbags he hangs out with."  
"Oh… well I hired him in Delphi five years ago, he's alway been a solid dependable sort, never married but the girls at the towns we stop in all seem to like him well enough. Come to think about it he seemed kinda twitchy the last few weeks but I figured he'd met a lass he was anxious to get back to."  
She looked into the flames as they danced over the wood hungrily and sighed tiredly. "I think he was getting twitchy because he received new instructions to capture any strange woman traveling with Hercules and Iolaus if he could. You may have hired him, but Thaddeus was working for someone else the whole time I'm afraid." Tracey concluded thoughtfully. "Can you tell me anything else about him? The smallest details you can think of would be helpful."  
He shrugged. "Not really. He was a good worker, quit, respectful and I had no reason to mistrust him. I am sorry he hurt you but I can't tell you anything else." He gave Hercules a strange look and walked away.  
Hercules sighed and sat down next to her pulling her in against his side sharing his warmth with her. "Don't worry, we know what he looks like, we'll just have to be careful on our way to Thebes."  
Tracey settled her body more comfortably against Hercules's broad form and laid her head on his chest, a hand resting there too. The rest of her curled around him too, making sure that she was close and safe, the blanket she had wrapped around her she used to cover them both. She let out a sigh and let her breathing become more even before she spoke softly.

"Thank you Hercules. Unfortunately I didn't get any useful information from Draxxus other that his God and Master is an ancient God... I didn't find out anything else and I hoped our merchant friend could tell us more. Oh well."

They remained by the fire in silence for a long time, after a while he led her a little ways off and made up a pallet for them to sleep on. They were up at dawn and moving down the road to Thebes. They pushed hard and three days after the stop at the crossroads they arrived in Thebes. The sun was high and the town itself was bustling as Hercules led her through the streets. He greeted people by name and was greeted in return. He was stopped by a burly woman who was covered in flour who smiled up at him. "Well Hercules it's about time you came home. That short friend of yours has gone and gotten himself hooked up with some foreigner and she's turned the whole place on its ear with her ways. And I see you've brought one home too, about time you both settled down again with pretty girls." She gave them both a toothy smile to show she meant no harm with her words.  
Slightly taken aback by the woman's honesty, Tracey looked at Hercules, a slight pink blush appearing on her cheeks but she did her best to hide it. She looked back to the woman and smiled slightly.  
"That's my friend Artemis. Do you know where they might be Hercules?"  
"They're probably staying at Jason's place, he and my mother lived in my childhood home after they married but she passed away not long ago." He motioned to the east. "He lives that way." He smiled at the baker and she grinned back then they were headed up the road to Jason and Alchemene's home. Tracey felt the tension she'd been carrying the last three days seeping out of her as they walked, this whole valley seemed blessed and at ease.  
She breathed in deeply and let the fresh air fill her lungs before letting it out slowly with a smile. The air was sweet with the smell of fresh flowers and she loved it. Trees were full and leafy, the grass was green and lush, the weather itself was warm, bright and very pleasant. The clouds were so fluffy she felt that she could reach up and pluck them from the sky.  
"This place is so peaceful Hercules." Tracey said softly. "I can see why your mother wanted to live here. It's so beautiful, green and lively... I could live here."  
They approached a lovely whitewashed one story house surrounded by flowers and a young pomegranate tree, a man of middle years was out in the garden on his knees working in a new flowerbed. "Jason!" Hercules called to the man who looked up and grinned.  
"Hercules! I was wondering when you'd get here. Iolaus got here over a week ago. Well who's this?" He stood and smiled at Tracey.  
With a small, respectful bow, Tracey smiled and extended her hand to the man Hercules hailed as Jason and nodded to him in a familiar manner. Jason was a tall man in his own right, but stopped a few inches short of Hercules's full stature. He had a kind and fatherly face and she could see a lot of her biological father in him, which made her like him even more.  
"Hi, my name is Tracey."  
He smiled and held out a hand to her. "Welcome Tracey, I'm Jason and it's a pleasure to meet you." He looked over at Hercules. "So what brings you by? I figured you'd be leaving Iolaus to enjoy his honeymoon." His eyes twinkled and she knew he was teasing.  
Tracey giggled quietly, nodded to his words and took his hand, giving it a firm shake. "Never a dull moment with Artemis around I can assure you of that. But I can say I wouldn't be surprised if she did decide to stay here with Iolaus... it is gorgeous and pleasant here and I see you like to garden, perhaps you can show me a few tricks. I've been trying to grow my own garden at home but I can't seem to get it right."  
He gave her a curious look. "So where is home? Artemis gets very evasive whenever it comes up. I saw her clothing, the ones she was wearing when they arrived in town and it's stuff I saw in the far east, minus being on fire of course. That's quite a talent she's got. You're clothes are exotic as well but not nearly as much as hers."  
"Our clothes are a little different from everyone else because we made them ourselves, well really Artemis made ours. She's a master seamstress and is quite talented." Tracey answered with a thoughtful smile. "As you probably guessed she has the ability to control fire and Iolaus has ranted and raved about always being warm thanks to her." Tracey pushed her hair out of her face and her smile grew.  
He chuckled. "Well either way you're both lovely and you are both welcome in my home. Iolaus and Artemis are staying up at his old place but they'll be down soon for dinner. Why don't you get cleaned up while we wait for them. I can even give you a change of clothes s you can wash yours." He motioned to Tracey's dusty skirt.  
"Thank you so much Jason. I greatly appreciate that." She replied and gave him a smile that mirrored her gratitude. "I'll help you with dinner once I'm finished."  
Jason motioned for them to follow him inside and Tracey gave Hercules a quick smile before proceeding into the house. She looked around at the entire establishment and it felt like home to her. The house was very spacious and all the furniture was hand carved and smooth wood that was beautiful. The pillows and cushions were stuffed with goose down feathers and were very plush when she ran her fingers over the elaborate stitching. Tracey's eyes fell upon a blanket that was folded across the arm of the couch and a small smile touched her lips. The rest of the house was standard dimensions with a pretty and decent sized kitchen, two bedrooms and a nice bathroom that held all the necessities.  
"Yeah, I could stay here..." She said softly to herself. found the towel and a small bar of soap and took these to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. It took her only a few minutes to manipulate the water from the river that ran behind the house to flow into the tub. Placing her hands in the tub of water, Tracey concentrated on heating nothing but her hands with fire and much to her delight it worked and she released the energy and removed her clothes. She set them aside on a stool and lowered her body carefully into the water, glad that it was just the right temperature and it eased her greatly. She was just starting to run soap over her arms when the door opened and she felt cooler air flow over her skin in the tub then the door closed again but behind the reed screen she couldn't tell who was in the room with her. She stopped moving in mid lather with the soap and her ears twitched wildly. Not necessarily fearing for her life at the moment, she knew that no one would dare come to this house and try to capture her while Hercules and Jason were here. Jason was the leader of the Argonauts and the king of Corinth, if anyone did try, they would sorely be beaten down horribly. Tracey slowly rose from the bath tub and grabbed the towel she had placed on the stool with her clothes and wrapped it around her nude body, knotting it quickly between her curved breasts. The water in the tub leveled out at her knees and she stepped out to keep her footing secured. "Who's there?" She asked, crouching in front of the tub.  
The water behind her churned and several tendrils appeared, being directed by her hands to be ready to grab anything she directed them too. Her body began to shake and she was growing impatient with the lack of answer to her question. "I said, who's there?"  
Artemis came around the reed screen looking surprised. "Take it easy doll. I brought you a dress and something nicer for your skin than the soap the guys use."  
To Tracey's surprise Artemis was wearing a long sleeveless grecian dress in a wine red color, she still wore the slippers that she'd worn with her sorceress outfit, she looked like she belonged in the dress though it looked like she'd had to make some adjustments to the bust.  
"Artemis!" Tracey squealed happily. "You're looking much better now, and thanks."

She released the water and it fell back into the tub. A smile spread over her features and she straightened her posture to one that was calmer. She wanted to hug her and poke around her body to make sure she was all healed and back to being her awesome self again, but she didn't because she was still wet from the tub and she didn't want to get Arty wet too.

"Sorry for almost attacking you, Draxxus had one of his goons nab me about three days ago. Hercules hasn't let me out of his sight, I almost have to threaten him to let me use the tub by myself... But don't worry, I'm fine. Thank you for the dress."  
Artemis grinned and motioned for her to get back in the bath. She handed her a pottery jar of sweet smelling soft soap. "Try this. And trust me, I understand the over protective thing. Iolaus gets nervous if I stray too far from the house. So Draxxus tried to grab you? Did you get any answers?" She brought a stool over and sat down while Tracey got back in the bath.  
The water was still warm and she dipped her hand in the jar slowly and brought her fingers out again to give them a quick sniff. The soap smelled like mint and vanilla and was quite nice. Tracey rubbed the soap onto her skin and smiled, thoroughly pleased and enjoying how smooth it made her skin feel after she washed it off.

"Nothing that would really help us... other than his God, his Master as he calls him, is just an Ancient God. I guess that means he's older than the Greek gods." Tracey replied, unstopping a cork from another, light blue bottle and wafting it under her nose. "Mmm more vanilla with a slight hint of lavender."

She poured a handful of the substance into her cupped hand and then ran it through her hair. Using her nails and finger tips, Tracey worked the liquid through her hair and then used a pitcher that stood alongside the tub to rinse the rest from her scalp. Standing up from the tub again she stepped out of it onto the cool floor and held her hands down as far as they would go. Slowly Tracey drew her hands up over her body, following every curve and indent in her form, the water droplets quivering and rising from her clean skin. She finished by removing the water from her black hair, it fell past her shoulders in waves when she was finished and deposited the water in the tub again.

"Okay, let's see if this dress fits." She said with a smile. "I'm not big on dresses, but I don't have anything else to wear so this will do and perhaps I will be able to tweak it a little to make it more my style."

Tracey put on her underwear and bra, freshly washed and dried with her bath water, and slipped the light blue fabric dress over her head. The transparent outer layer of white flowed around her ankles and the sleeves of her dress connected to her biceps and shoulders with small silver rings. She wrapped the blue scarf with silver tassels Iolaus had given her around her waist and tied it in a knot. Her final piece were sandals that laced up to mid-shin on her pale legs, her pointed ears wiggled as she observed her reflection in a small standing mirror.

"Or perhaps I'll leave it as is and make a pair of pants to go on underneath the dress..." She trailed off.  
"Try wearing it as is for a while. You'll be surprised at how comfortable it is. I've stopped wearing my leggings altogether." Artemis said coming up behind Tracey and running a brush through her hair and swiftly braiding the silken strands. "I'm glad it fits, I had to sew it from memory." She tied the braid off with a bit of blue ribbon and smiled.  
"So an ancient God who he wouldn't name. What did the Oracle have to say?"  
Tracey nodded again at her reflection and smiled as some stray strands of her hair fell out of the braid Arty had just done and framed her face. Taking a deep breath, she recalled from memory everything that the Oracle had said.

"'You were brought forth by the King of the Gods in Greece to save all of History. Only the Daughters of the Future with all of History behind them can save everything that matters from one who would destroy History to write a new future.'"

She looked away from the mirror and turned to look at Artemis and shook her head apologetically.

"I should have been more specific with my questions, but it nothing happens to the Oracle than we can take you back to Delphi and you can ask her more questions."  
Artemis shook her head. "We're not supposed to go back to Delphi. I don't know how I know that." She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. "We left the cave the day after I woke up because I knew, Knew with a capital K, that We had to get to Thebes. It drove me, I just couldn't get it out of my head that we had to be in Thebes. I'm sure whatever drove me to come here will show me where to go next."  
She stared out the window for a few minutes then softly spoke the words the Oracle had said. "You were brought forth by the King of the Gods in Greece to save all of History. Only the Daughters of the Future with all of History behind them can save everything that matters from one who would destroy History to write a new future. Daughters of the future, with all of history behind us… That's important… how though…?" She blinked and looked at Tracey. "I need to go meditate for a while. Can you let the boys know I'm going into the woods? I'll stay in eyesight of the house but I need to be in the woods."  
"That's the million dinar question." Tracey muttered but she nodded. "Yeah I'll let them know, please be careful and holler if you need me."

With a smile, Tracey let Artemis out of the bathroom and then turned to take care of the used bath water. She focused on the water with hands raised and then let her hands dance over the water until the tub was empty. Very subtly her directed the water with her hands through the window and back into the river. Letting out a breath and releasing her control on the water, Tracey touched the fabric of her dress and giggled quietly. She looked up and left the bathroom and went to find Jason, wondering how she could help with dinner and where Hercules and Iolaus were so she could tell them that Artemis went to meditate.  
"Hm now where would Iolaus and Hercules be?" Tracey mused out loud.

It turned out that Hercules, Iolaus and Jason were all in the barn talking quietly amongst themselves about the events of the last three weeks. Jason smiled when she came in. "Tracey, you look lovely, How was your bath?"  
Hercules stared at her transfixed by the sight of her in the dress until Iolaus nudged him and he blinked back into focus. "You look great." He smiled at her.  
Tracey blinked and smiled at him.

"Thank you Hercules. I'm sorry to interrupt." She said before looking at Jason and answering him. "I think that was the most enjoyable bath I've had in awhile and I greatly appreciate all your hospitality, everything was perfect. Oh, before I forget, Artemis is going to meditate in the woods but she promised to stay in eyesight of the house and will be back soon."

At that moment, Nargis came in singing loudly and happily! He alighted onto Tracey's outstretched hand and rubbed his head into her hand as he chirped and brushed her face with his wings. She scratched his beak and under his chin until he fluffed himself up three times his normal size and made her laugh softly, like silver bells. Nargis's tail feathers shifted as he hopped up her arm and perched himself on her shoulder, soft chirps escaping from him every few moments and making her smile.

"I missed you too Nargis and thank you for keeping an eye on Iolaus and Artemis for me."

Iolaus stood up off the bale of hay he'd been leaning on looking concerned. "She's in the woods alone?"  
Jason rested a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine Iolaus, she's healthy again, you've told me she can fight and I'm pretty sure she'll set anyone who accosts her on fire."  
Hercules looked at his friend searchingly but didn't say anything. "If she's not back in half an hour we're going after her."  
Iolaus didn't seem convinced but he settled back down on the haybale. Jason smiled at Tracey again. "I'm going to be starting dinner soon, why don't you come help me? You're probably a better cook than these two."  
Iolaus and Hercules protested half heartedly but it was all in fun.

Artemis found a quiet spot just inside the woods and sat down to clear her mind. She rubbed her face not bothering to meditate, she didn't really ever meditate anymore, instead she started talking softly. "Gods and Goddesses to whom I owe allegiance, who owe me friendship. Great Lords and Ladies whom I worship and have followed since I was young I need your help. I need answers. We are being hunted by another God, I believe they mean us harm. Please. Please I have made offerings and I've been faithful. If it was just me I wouldn't care but it's not just me, Tracey is involved too and she doesn't have my training, she doesn't have my magics and my belief. I need answers. Please."  
She sat and waited praying occasionally, pleading for help from any God she could name but nothing happened. She put her head in her hands and leaned against her knees trying not to cry, she didn't know where to go from Thebes and she had been hoping for more information from the Oracle. "Daughters of the Future with all of History behind them. The King of Gods in Greece is obviously Zeus but he's not going to help. So… which God wants to rewrite history to create a new future… shit I just do not have enough information." She sighed and closed her eyes praying one more time, pouring all her will, he desperation and he need into the prayer but when she opened her eyes there was still nothing and she bit her lips to stop them trembling as tears slid down her cheeks.  
She wiped her face impatiently and got up heading back to the house, she was glad to see Tracey again and just having her best friend back eased a tension in her chest. She walked to the house and watched through the window as the three men and Tracey bickered companionably about whatever they were cooking. She felt a pang of fear that this could all come down around their ears but she shoved it aside and walked into the house. "I'm back." She said quietly.  
Tracey was telling Jason about how many times Iolaus had caught rabbits for them and she shook her head.  
"Not that I'm not grateful for your hunting skills Iolaus, but there are other things that we could hunt and eat. I mean I could help catch fish and there are plenty of edible berries that we could have obtained." Tracey laughed, sprinkling in some salt into a pot on a tripod over the fireplace. "Rabbit, consumed too many times, tends to lose it's tastier qualities."

She laughed and tasted the thickening chicken soup before nodding and handing off a spoon to Hercules to see what he thought as she turned to the other pot and uncovered it's iron lid to reveal its contents to be a steaming pile of rice and then she looked over and smiled at Artemis.  
"Arty, you're back! Perfect timing, dinner is almost done. Would you and Iolaus set the table please? What do you think Hercules? Does the soup need anything else?"  
Iolaus handed Artemis a stack of bowls looking into her face but she avoided his eyes and set the bowls around the table then set spoons and cups beside them. Hercules tasted the soup and pronounced it perfect before using a cloth to take the pot off the hook and setting it on the table doing the same with the rice. Jason poured fruit juice into the cups and they all sat. For a few minutes everyone was quiet while they dished up food and dug in. Artemis smiled. "This is great guys."  
"I have to agree with you Artemis, this is perfect." Tracey replied, scooping up a spoonful of rice and soup and holding it just below her lips so she could cool it before eating.  
Closing her eyes to savor the tasty goodness, Tracey could almost pick out the different ingredients in the soup. The chicken was blended perfectly with the carrots, potatoes, green onions, a little salt and some zesty lemon skins to just give it some citrus kick. She suddenly remembered the bread, got out of her chair and carefully took the baked loaf out of the over. She cut it and brought it and the churned butter over to the table for everyone to take some. "Were you able to meditate successfully Artemis?"  
Artemis set her spoon down in the bowl and shook her head. "No. I know we're supposed to be here in Thebes but beyond that I don't know. And I wasn't able to make any sense of the Oracle's words beyond the obvious ones about Zeus." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I think we just need a few days of quiet in a safe place. Now that you guys are here I know I can relax a little and that might help."  
Hercules leaned back in his chair. "I think you're right. We're all stressed out and tired and nobody thinks well when they're tired."  
"Mhm." Tracey made a noise in agreement. "I think we should rest here while we're able, there's no telling how crazy it will get when we have to start out again and a bit of rest will do us all good. Besides only idiots would think to attack us here."  
With that said, she went back to her food and their conversations revolved around a variety of topics.

By the time night fell everyone was exhausted and Iolaus told Hercules that he was taking Artemis back to his house up the road. Hercules patted his shoulder and told him to be safe. Artemis had been sitting in front of the fire using a nail heated by her own flames to burn strange looking marks into a set of wooden disks. She held one up to inspect her handiwork and Tracey noticed it was the same mark as one of her tattoos.  
"What are you working on my sweet?" Tracey asked, head tilted to one side as she too inspected the marking and wooden disks.  
"A set of runes. I'm going to see if I can do a reading when I've finished them. Since I don't have my cards with me this is the next best thing. She replied wrapping the finished runes and the blank disks in a cloth.  
"Ah I see."

Tracey let out a tired sigh and rubbed her eyes.

"We can hope they will work for us, but in the meantime..." She started, picking up some string from the table and handing it to her. "You should enjoy Iolaus company."

She gave Artemis a knowing look and a sideways smirk, letting her know that she saw what was going on between her and the curly haired man. Artemis smirked back at her and slid her eyes towards Hercules with a raised eyebrow. She leaned in to give Tracey a hug and murmured in her ear. "Lets just say, size isn't everything… but I'm sure it's fun." She stood up and walked towards Iolaus who let her step out first.  
"We'll be back tomorrow, or you guys can come by my place." Iolaus said before closing the door."  
Tracey laughed and then turned her face toward the fire, crossing her arms over her chest and hoping that the heat from the fire would mask the blush on her cheeks as it spread before she could contain it. It was warm and she felt at peace, just absorbing the heat and letting memories of her cabin up in California come back to her. She smiled at the thought of her family sitting on the couch in front of a blazing fire and sipping on hot chocolate and coffee while pleasant conversations were tossed back and forth. That's how she and her family spent their summers when they weren't in school or working all year and it was quite pleasant to get away from it all. Being out in the woods at the cabin was really what she enjoyed doing and always bulked when she had to return to reality. Tracey let out a tired sigh and watched the flames flicker before her. 'It's so peaceful here, it reminds me so much of my cabin.' She thought.  
Hercules and Jason conferred quietly then Jason left for his own bed. Hercules came up behind Tracey and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? You look like something is bothering you." He wanted to take her in his arms again the way he had while they were traveling to Thebes but he didn't know how she would feel about that now that they were back in civilization and she had Artemis to turn to for support.  
Stifling a yawn behind her hand, Tracey laid her own small hand over his and felt the different digits of his fingers. His large hand was firm and strong from all the work he's done over a course of his life time, but also soft and gentle. She turned slightly, without really moving her feet, and looked up at him with a small smile on her lips. Her eyes reflected the firelight and seemed to sparkle. With a nod she turned back to the fire and watched the flames again.  
"I'm alright Hercules." She said calmly. "I'm just thinking about this place and how it reminds me of my own cabin, which my family called Narnia. I really enjoyed spending time up there and being in the woods made me feel alive and free, but this place is so much like my cabin and I love it, I feel at home here. I can see why being here with your mother molded you into the man you are now."  
She sighed and and leaned back slightly against his sturdy frame and looked back at him with a smile. "Thank you for all your help and support, it's been a comfort and I appreciate it. You are something special and I'm glad to have you."  
He smiled down at her and curved his much taller frame down to kiss her gently. His arms wrapped around her and she felt as though he were a calm bay in a stormy sea.


	8. Chapter 7: Answered Prayers

Iolaus was dealing with his own stormy sea, Artemis was worrying him with her silence and her far off stares. She wasn't behaving the way she had all week, she was withdrawn, anxious and he knew when she'd come back from the woods that she'd been crying. He'd never seen her actually cry, he'd seen glitters of tears in her eyes and he'd seen her hide that she wanted to cry or that she was on the verge of it but she'd never let him see her cry and it worried him that she kept so much bottled up but the few occasions where he knew she'd been crying she hadn't avoided his gaze or him for that matter but she had at Jasons house after the woods and it stung. They'd reached his house and Artemis had lit the fire and candles with a gesture that had become habit, he still marveled at her skill but tonight he wasn't in the mood to be impressed. She had gone to the window to stare out at the night and he was just about to speak when she started talking. "I'm sorry." She said softly.  
He blinked surprised, in the near month that he'd known her she rarely apologized for anything, not her moods, her actions or her words. She'd explained to him once that she lived her life in such a way that she didn't feel the need to apologize for being herself, for her words, actions or thoughts. The apology was enough to cool his temper and she kept speaking. "It wasn't fair of me to shut you out earlier. It's a part of me I fight with, the urge to keep people at bay so they can't hurt me or use my vulnerability against me but it's not fair to the people who care most about me."  
He took his boots off and set his sword belt on the peg and looked around the house. She'd cleaned it and had him make something she called a whitewash from crushed limestone and water, she'd coated the wooden walls with it and left the doors and windows open until it had dried about a day later. The fresh white coat had made the room feel bigger even though it was essentially a bachelor's home, one big room with a reed divider between the bathroom and the main room, his bed sat against one wall opposite the hearth. Their bed he corrected himself. In the seven days she'd been staying with him in his home she'd made it a home. He walked over to her and turned her to look at him, her eyes were bright with unshed tears and he cupped her cheek. "What's wrong Arty? What can I do?"  
She closed her eyes and took a shaking breath as the first tears started, he didn't know what surprised him more, the naked tears or the way it made him feel like he'd failed her somehow. He gathered her into his arms and pressed her face against the crook of his neck. She was tall for a woman but he was still a good 6 inches taller than she was, she cried into his neck and he felt her stress and anxiety and fear painting his skin in hot tears, she didn't sob or shake but the release was evident. He knew she went into the woods to pray, to beg the Gods for help, for answers, for the safety of her friend. He'd followed her a few times and while he didn't understand the devotion, being friends with Hercules had made him wary of the Gods, she had a different relationship with them. She'd explained that in her time they were milder, less capricious and more inclined to actually aid humanity. He supposed it was because they had fewer followers in her time, they had to help the few they had or lose them all. "You prayed for help again and they didn't answer." He said softly and felt her nod.  
"I was hoping the Oracle had something more useful but Tracey didn't know the questions to ask. That's my fault though, I should have told her but I was so tired." She was calming down.  
He stroked her hair. "We couldn't have predicted you being so hurt." He said tilting her face up and wiping tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. "You told me once that in your time the Gods help those that help themselves. Tomorrow we'll start helping ourselves. I'm sure we'll catch a break soon, now that we're all in a safe place Herc and I can start reaching out to our friends and help you look for answers.  
She wiped her face and took a deep breath and he watched her self possession and strength reassert themselves, she smiled up at him and he saw the truth of that smile in her dark eyes. He kissed her cupping the back of her head losing himself for a minute in the taste of her, the feel of her against his chest before he broke the kiss and scooped her up making her yelp out a laugh. He grinned his own blue eyes sparkling as he strode to the bed and laid her out before climbing on top of her caging her with arms and legs as he dipped his head for another kiss. He was glad she'd released her pain and sadness but now it was time to heal those wounds with love and laughter. He would have reason to be grateful for that later.

Artemis knew she was dreaming, she had had lucid dreams before and usually she enjoyed them but this was different. She felt fear clawing its way through her chest and struggled to breath normally. She was being hunted by something malevolent, something so purely evil it stole her breath. She looked around at the damp walls of some long abandoned temple. A well sat in the center but she couldn't bring herself to approach it, something was in there, whispering terrible truths. "The Devil doesn't need to lie when the truth can hurt so much worse." She murmured and the voice in the well laughed.  
"Yes, truth between us little witch. You're heart is scarred as mine is. Tormented by your father, abandoned to be tormented by your mother. Abandoned by your lover and your child and your family. Even your Gods have abandoned you. But I won't. I won't leave you because I'm already with you. Already in you." It laughed again and the dream shifted.  
Iolaus with red eyes, a vipers eyes wearing white robes and speaking to a crowd of cultists. Tracey with the same eyes using her powers to reroute rivers leaving entire countries in drought. Hercules with the same red eyes tearing down the walls of Olympus and destroying the Gods, then a mirror and she had the same red viper eyes and was wreathed in flames, her crown of fire burning high and white hot, her cape whipping around in the force of its own flames encircling victims in its wrath while the belt of fire around her waist dripped flames that set the world aflame and the voice laughed and laughed. She lashed out and shattered the mirror feeling the shards cut into her arm as she screamed.  
She woke when Iolaus shook her, she was still screaming and on her arm was a long deep gash where the dream mirror had cut her.

Tracey had fallen asleep feeling safe in Hercules arms but the dream she found herself in was anything but safe. The woods she walked in were dark and dank, dead trees covered in hanging lichens and mosses reached for her like seeking hands and a voice was whispering in her ear. She tried to ignore the words but she had no choice but to listen when she came to a dead end. A large black pool lay in her path smooth as obsidian glass and she reflection lay in it mocking her with red viper eyes. "The only girl in a family of boys and you've done so little compared to your brothers. Always worrying about money and security, always playing catch up. So what if you started a business, you're still stuck working for other people because your piddly little crafts aren't good enough to make enough money to be your own boss. Look at you, too timid to tell people that they've hurt you. Too scared of getting yelled at to stand up for yourself… too scared of being in trouble. So anxious about it all the time."  
She felt the anxiety, the fear that one mistake would cost her everything. "You don't have to be… You have power now… so much power. The power to bend the world, to break it… to remake it…" She saw herself in the black pool with red vipers eyes rerouting rivers, moving mountains and calling down plagues of birds to destroy the crops of anyone who hurt her. "The power to stop them." She saw Artemis burning the world with white hot fires, Iolaus leading armies against the innocent and Hercules laying waste to Olympus. "To save them." She saw herself creating paradise for her friends but the whole time the fear, the anxiety weighed at her and she felt herself leaning in towards the pool of inky water.  
She felt the malevolence of the being in the pool and without thinking she cast her power into the pool thrusting the black water and its vile presence away from her with a shriek of pure fear. She woke with Hercules holding her upright and calling her name still shrieking in pure terror. The name on her lips was echoed by Artemis a few hundred yards away in the home she shared with Iolaus. "Dahok." They cried the name together but unrealizing while the men that had fallen in love with them tried to calm them with little success.  
Jason came out of his room sword in hand but seeing no enemy he put it aside and tried to help. Hercules shook his head. "Go check on Iolaus and Artemis. If Tracey is like this Artemis might be the same and they'll need each other. Hurry."  
Tracey's eyes shot open and she looked around the room wildly, as if she was trying to find something that couldn't be seen by anyone else but her. She was shaking and sweating, cold shivers running over her spine as she clutched Hercules's arm and the bed sheets in a grip so strong that her knuckles turned white and she thought they might break.  
"Hercules... help me..." She whispered hoarsely. "Artemis... Iolaus... Hercules... I won't let him hurt you..."  
She trailed off and blinked before she focused on Hercules's worried face and suddenly she was brought back to her surroundings. Touching his face gently with her fingers, Tracey's breathing returned to a calmer state and she began to whisper to him to him again.  
"I won't let him hurt you or get to our family... where is Artemis and Iolaus?"  
Hercules smoothed her hair back and held her. "Jason is getting them. Easy sweetheart, just breath. Artemis will be here soon."

Jason found a similar tableau in Iolaus house, Artemis was white as milk and she'd been pale to begin with. Her eyes were enormous and she was shaking from head to foot, Jason was pretty sure the only reason nothing was on fire was because she'd been far too shaken to use her powers. His eyes went to the blood soaked cloth Iolaus was holding around her arm, he was pale as well his blue eyes frantic with worry. "Jason, I can't stop the bleeding."  
Jason grabbed another cloth and wrapped it tightly around her arm. "Whatever happened to her happened to Tracey too. Pick her up and bring her to my house, we'll clean her up there."  
Iolaus scooped her up blanket and all while Jason grabbed his boots and sword belt. They ran back to his house and Iolaus sat Artemis in a chair while he peeled the cloths back away from the gash in her arm. Hercules held Tracey so she wouldn't run to Artemis immediately while Jason and Iolaus gathered the medical supplies. Artemis seemed to snap out of whatever had terrified her and winced looking down at the arm. "I… I can fix this… I can tell you how to fix it… I was an EMT…" She swallowed hard.  
"What's an EMT?" Jason asked pouring salt into a bowl of hot water and pulling out packets of herbs.  
Had Hercules not been holding onto her gently but strongly, Tracey would have been rushing over and trying to help. She needed to talk to Artemis about the dream she had and from what it looked like she might have had the same dream, if not a variation of it. She heard Jason's question and spoke up quickly while still looking at the loss of blood that was flowing from her arm.

"An EMT in our world means Emergency Medical Technician, or to put it plainly a healer. Artemis can tell you how to sew her wound closed, but I will take over if you need me to."  
She was still slightly shaking, but she was slowly regaining some composure.  
Artemis looked over at Tracey. "I need her help Hercules… Please…" She winced as Jason flushed the wound with salt water.  
Hercules let Tracey go and she hurried over. "I need you to chill the wound. Get it cold but don't freeze it… It'll slow the bleeding…" She spoke through gritted teeth.  
Tracey used her powers to make the wound cold and as Artemis had said the bleeding slowed. Artemis looked over at Jason. "I need garlic, Witch Hazel and Yarrow ground up in honey."  
Jason and Iolaus sifted through the herbs while Hercules found the pot of honey. They quickly mixed the concoction and Artemis took a deep breath. "Thank gods it's my left arm… do you have a thin curved needle and silk thread?"  
Hercules found the smallest darning needle his mother had owned and her stash of precious silk threads. He handed then to Tracey who threaded a needle. "Tracey… can you keep rinsing the wound with cold water. Very cold water please."  
While Tracey kept a steady stream of ice cold water running over the wound Artemis started stitching. She had to stop a few times to let the pain lessen but with Jason and Iolaus's help she managed to suture the wound closed. Iolaus was surprised that she didn't use the standard stitch but instead used a neat row of knots. When she finished she was breathing hard and she was a little green. "Smear… the honey mixture… on the wound and wrap it in a bandage... " She reached her free hand out to Tracey and gripped her fingers tightly smearing her blood on Traceys hand.  
Iolaus smeared the mixture on as carefully as he could and they wrapped her arm. He pressed his forehead against hers smoothing back her hair. "Rest now."  
She shook her head and looked at Tracey. "The dream… you had one too?"  
Tracey felt her stomach lurch when she felt Artemis's blood squish in her hand and she slowly paled, all the color leaking out of her face.

"Yes I did and it frightened me Artemis, I've never been so afraid by what I've seen than what I witnessed in that dream. We need to stop this." She said, expressing the greatest urgency in her voice. "I don't want anyone to suffer like we have."  
Artemis let go of her hand. "I'm sorry. Did you hear a name when you woke up? Did you hear the name?"  
"Yes, I couldn't forget it even if I tried. It feels like a poison under my skin." She said with a shiver. "No matter what he does or says we need to resolve this issue quickly... What can we do?"

Tracey quickly brought a basin of water over and washed her hands thoroughly until the basin darkened with red droplets. She didn't like the sight of it and turned away, grabbing a fresh towel to dry her hands and another for Artemis.  
"I don't know what to do yet… We have a name now, that's something at least." She trailed off and took a sip of the water Iolaus handed her. "He… it… showed me what we could do if we let it in… It wants one of us. It doesn't care who, you, me, Iolaus, Hercules… it doesn't matter to this God. The Oracle's words make sense now. He wants to rewrite history so he had a future, he's trapped somewhere so he has no future unless he can take someone over and make a new one…" She shuddered and Hercules and Iolaus exchanged a look at the haunted look in Tracey and Artemis's eyes.  
"We can't let that happen... we won't allow that to happen. He was right about one thing: we are stronger than we were before in our own world. We can beat him with the proper tools, strategies, and with any information we can get our hands on." Tracey pushed gently, trying to generate some ideas that might help them. "Perhaps we can push the Greek Gods for the information... I think Ares might actually lift a finger to help us this time, you should be happy you didn't meet Demos... that bastard is as annoying in this world as he is in ours."  
"Nice to know some things haven't changed." Artemis commented and looked out the window at the inky blackness. It wasn't long after midnight, they'd only had maybe three hours of sleep and her arm hurt. "I'm too tired to think of answers... I broke the mirror in the dream… and it cut me. How did you drive him away?" She looked at Tracey.  
"I...I..." She started and tried to recall what she did in her dream. "The dark pool... I pushed back the waters and then I woke up. Do you think the pool of water has something to do with him? What did you see in your dream? Was there water involved?"  
"No water… just an empty well in an abandoned temple then the mirror." Artemis rubbed her eyes with her right hand and sighed before looking up at Hercules. "Have you ever heard of Dahok." Her voice squeezed tight when she said the name and there was a flinching in her eyes.  
He shook his head. "Never… but I can ask some of our friends in other parts of the world. They might have heard of him."  
Iolaus had a thoughtful look. "Herc… maybe we should ask Xena… I heard somewhere that she had a run in with something a lot older than our Gods."  
Hercules nodded rubbed his lower jaw. "I'll see if someone can find her."  
Tracey nodded and the gave Artemis a concerned look. She sighed with a shudder and leaned against the table, her arms crossed over her chest.  
"I'll send Nargis out to find Xena and have the other birds try to find Draxxus. I'm pretty sure that if we find him, we'll find Dahok too. Do you think he has a physical form?"  
"Oh sweet Gods I hope not." Artemis whispered the shook her head. "I don't think he does. I think he's still looking for one that will let him in… or that he can overpower."  
"Then our resolve must be stronger than him so he can't overpower us." Tracey said, closing her eyes and pushing her disheveled hair out of her face. "If he stays nothing but a evil voice that we can block out from our minds and dreams than I think we can be grateful for that." She didn't know if she could go back to sleep now, but tiredness was creeping in again.  
Artemis nodded. "Let's take this up again in the morning. You can send Nargis and the birds out and I can scry for answers with the runes."  
She stood up and swayed slightly before righting herself. "Morpheus be kind. Don't let us dream." She prayed pouring will into her words and Hercules and Iolaus felt power prickle on their skins.  
Iolaus wrapped the blanket around her shoulders but before he could lead her to the door she reached out and hugged Tracey hard. "If he comes back… if… if we dream again…imagine a metal sphere with you in the center and pour all your will… all of who you are into believing it's there, that it's real."  
Tracey held tightly to her best friend and nodded into her hair.  
"I promise to be careful tonight and please try to get some rest."  
After they left, she turned to Jason and wished him a good night before Nargis followed her to the bedroom she and Hercules were sharing. Tracey sighed heavily, looked at the bed. "If there is any justice in this world, it will let us sleep without anymore interruptions."  
Hercules remade the bed and pulled her down to sit in front of him, his hands began kneading her shoulders and back as he tried to sooth her. He didn't know what he could do to protect her in her dreams and that helpless feeling did not sit well with him. "Tracey…" He started then paused not sure what to say. In the end he spoke from his heart. "Tracey, I'm worried, for you, for Artemis and Iolaus and for myself. I don't think I could handle losing you. I haven't felt like this since before my wife died. You make me feel giddy and foolish and like I could fly if I weren't so heavy." He gave a wry smile hoping to cheer her up. "I love you Tracey. I know you might have to go back to your world when this is all over but I love you and will for as long as I live."

Tracey closed her eyes when Hercules started to massage her shoulders and relished all of his attention. He was really skilled, not only in battle but also with massages and that made her smirk a little. Slowly she turned in his lap and looked into his eyes, her hand reaching out to stroke his cheek as she let out a calm sigh. Tracey had imagined for a long time what it would be like to meet this Hercules that she had watched on T.V. and here he was, everything she had thought he would be and more, he was perfect. "I can say the same for you too Hercules." She whispered, giving him a smile. "I love you too and I have for a while. I truly believe that things will work out for the best if we all remain loyal to each other and watch each others' backs."  
Slowly Tracey scooted closer to Hercules and cupped his cheeks to draw him down to her awaiting lips. She kissed him slowly, a slight hesitation in her motions in case it was too soon and the few kisses they did share before were something that came about with the stress of being hunted for the last three weeks and the need to have something that created peace and happiness.  
Hercules let her set the pace but before long the fatigue from being woken in terror after only three hours swamped them both and the fell asleep entwined.

Iolaus had gotten Artemis settled back into the bed but getting her to sleep was another matter. She lay staring up at the ceiling her eyes roaming back and forth and he could all but hear her brain working overtime. He rolled over and tilted her face to look at him, he was about to open his mouth to tell her to relax when he realized how foolish that would be. She was a problem solver but this was a problem that didn't have an obvious solution. So her decided to give her a new problem to think on. "I'm thinking of expanding the house." He said.  
Whatever she'd been expecting him to say that wasn't it. "Expand… why?" He could see the puzzlement even in the dark and he smiled slightly.  
"To make some more room for you. I mean you've already filled up the corner next to the bed with a basket of stuff to sew… I'd like to give you more room to work in." He leaned up on his elbow and looked down at her before motioning to the wall behind her. "I was thinking of taking out that wall and adding a room with lots of windows."  
She looked at the wall and he could feel the tension seeping out of her as she latched onto the more manageable and mundane problem. He smiled and leaned down kissing her, her arms came up and wrapped around his neck and the feel of the bandage around her arm sobered him for a moment. She had taken so many wounds just since arriving in Greece, he worried about what continued living here might do. He shoved it out of his mind and kept kissing her. Time enough to worry in the morning he decided.

The morning dawned clear, bright and a little cool. Tracey sent Nargis out to find Xena and sent other birds out to find Draxxus. When she saw Artemis coming down the road looking awake but not happy about it she had to smile. Even here Arti wasn't a morning person and there was no caffeine to perk her up.  
"I'll whisper quietly and talk slowly until you're in the zone." Tracey said with a slight smirk on her lips as she fingered the fabric of her dress.

Artemis had been right, if she got used to the dress the way it was than she wouldn't feel the need to change anything about it. But if things continued to go well for them here than she might have to have Artemis teach her how to sew and she can make her own attire for this world.

"The birds have been sent off on their mission and I think we should take a day to relax and breath. It will take them a while to find out anything for us and we already have a plan put in place to keep Dahok out of our dreams, so what's left for us to do before anything is certain?"  
Artemis leaned against the fence and shrugged. "Not much, I think the best thing we can do right now is rest, get our feet back under us and try to enjoy ourselves. I think Dahok feeds on our fear, so if we don't give it to him he has less power over us." She looked around at the quiet countryside and listened to the sound of a town just waking up.  
"I've all but forgotten that whoosh of cars on the road. Did you ever notice the faint buzz of electricity that's all around us at home? It unnerved me when we first got here that it's so quiet but now I can barely remember what it sounded like."  
Tracey laughed quietly and nodded. "I can't say that I don't miss the cars and the electricity but I love this place! It makes me feel so free and alive!" She said and then as a afterthought. "The powers are great too. But it's the fresh air, the beautiful scenery, and the men that we've come to love. This place is wonderful compared to our old life, in more than one way."  
She breathed in a lungful of fresh air and let it out in a rush, smiling the entire time. Wrapping a gentle arm around Artemis's shoulder, Tracey rubbed her forehead against her's and smiled again. "Go on, find Iolaus and make a date of this beautiful day! Go!" She laughed. "I'm going to help Jason in the garden or perhaps go riding for a while, maybe Hercules will join me."  
Artemis laughed at her friends antics and left her to her plans. She started back towards the house she shared with Iolaus. A date sounded amazing.

It took nearly three days for any of the birds to turn up anything and when they did it was Nargis who arrived with Xena...in a cage. She looked annoyed and pushed the cage at Hercules who had come to greet her on the road. "Care to tell me why I followed a bird all the way here? Or how I knew to follow a bird here?"  
He gave a chuckle and took the cage opening the door to let Nargis out, the bird screamed furiously at Xena before flying away to find Tracey where she sat in the house tying bundles of herbs together under Jasons tutelage. Artemis was with Iolaus at his place and if her cheerful rambling about the spinning wheel Iolaus had traded a good plowshare were anything to go by she was probably spinning. Tracey looked up when Nargis flew in and started complaining loudly.  
Tracey looked up from the herbs, a small smile on her lips until his chirps and shrill tones caught her off guard and she stood up in an huff. Nargis landed on her shoulder, completely puffed up into an oversized soot ball with eyes and a sharp beak. Rolling the herbs into a bundle, she placed them in the appropriate basket for their use later and appologized to Jason while she made her way to the front door.

"Sorry Jason, but we have company and I think she put Nargis in a cage." Tracey said, her hair sweeping out behind her as she moved. "I don't like my friends in cages, they deserve to be free."  
Pushing the door open gently and trying to mask her anger, Tracey came outside and Nargis squawked and ruffled his feathers again. Tracey crossed her arms over her chest and didn't glare at Xena because she was there to help but her eyes said everything. "Please don't put my friend in a cage again. He has every right to be free like you or I."

"The bird is yours?" Xena scowled and looked at Hercules. "You didn't answer my question. Why did I just follow a bird here and why did I know to?"  
Hercules sighed and rested a hand on Tracey's shoulder, a silent request to be calm. "Xena, meet Tracey. Tracey has a gift with animals. She sent Nargis to find you because we need some help."  
Xena's frown dissolved when she saw the bond between Tracey and Hercules. "Help with what?"  
"Iolaus heard a few months ago that you and Gabrielle had had a run in with some ancient god. Did you find out his name? Anything about him?" Hercules asked.  
Xena's face darkened in anger and they both saw her struggle to stay calm. "A run in? That bastard raped Gabrielle and got her pregnant then took over the baby. If it weren't for the fact that the monster changed the child so much that even Gabrielle could see him for a monster we both might have died. As it was the child was killed, we burned the body." She faltered a little at the end. "Gabrielle still isn't over it. She's taking some time at the Bards School to get herself back together."  
Hercules reached for her but she stepped back and shook her head, chin coming up definitely. "The baby was named Hope. But he called himself Dahok. So did his followers."  
Tracey acknowledged Hercules's silent command and took a breath to calm herself. She gave Nargis a scratch under his chin and then whispered some quick instructions before he chirped and took flight, heading in the direction of Iolaus's and Artemis's residence. Hopefully they would be here shortly and without hesitation. She turned back to listen to Xena and Hercules's conversation in time to hear the name she had grown to hate in such a short time. "Dahok... the bastard will drive everyone mad."  
She looked at each of them in turn and then, when Artemis arrived, they would be able to tell Xena more about the situation.  
"Have you run into Draxxus? He works for Dahok and only the gods know how many people he has working for him and where they might be." Tracey said, crossing her arms over her chest again.  
Xena took a deep breath trying to settle herself. "I've heard of Draxxus, he's got his vicious fingers in everything, slavery, gambling, prostitution, legitimate business too. I've never actually seen him. Not many people have, it's how he keeps people like me and Hercules from shutting him down. He's got his hooks into thousands of people and about a third of them dont even know it."  
"I've seen him and my friend Artemis has too." Tracey said and a thought suddenly occurred to her, like a lightbulb just went off in her head. "I want to try something, but it will wait until we're finished here."  
Nargis came back and alighted to her shoulder, brushing his head under her chin and receiving a soft laugh from her as she scratched his head and wings. This was a signal that his mission had been accomplished and that Artemis and Iolaus would be joining them shortly. Tracey looked at Xena and then passed her to her horse.  
"Thank you my friend, I think Sojin would be glad for your company." She started before looking at Xena. "If you want to turn your horse loose, mine will gladly show him the greenest pastures for him to rest and graze in. I'll get some water or fruit juice for us to share until Artemis and Iolaus get here."  
She turned around and walked into the house, informing Jason that Xena had arrived by herself this time. On the inside she was concerned for Gabrielle and wished her better fortune. Xena gave Hercules an appraising look to which he just shrugged and motioned for her to follow him to the house. Xena watched Tracey interact with Jason and Hercules and saw there was a wealth of affection between Hercules and Tracey. She was happy for him but she felt a tiny pang of jealousy. Her head turned when she heard Iolaus's voice coming towards the house and her stomach jolted, she still had a lot of guilt for how she'd hurt him. When he opened the door and walked in she was surprised to see a woman with him holding his hand and laughing. What surprised her more was the happiness of Iolaus face when he looked at the woman. He loved this woman and that made her stomach twist a little more, remembering when that love was directed at her. Iolaus hesitated then smiled at Xena. "Xena, it's great to see you. I'd like to introduce you to someone."  
He tugged Artemis forward and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Xena, meet Artemis."  
"It's good to meet you." Xena managed.  
Artemis smiled but Xena saw the wariness in her eyes, this woman saw more than she let on and Xena felt an odd sense of kinship with her. It wasn't something she was used too. "Nice to meet you too. I take it Hercules and Tracey let you know why we wanted to talk to you?"  
"Sort of." Xena replied sitting back in her chair.  
Tracey came forward with a tray of cups and set it down on the table before serving the cups and then putting the tray back in the kitchen, she handed Hercules a cup as she passed him. Coming back she looked at Artemis and answered her question.  
"I thought it would be best if we were all present for this so we're all on the same page." She said quietly. "We need your help to take down Draxxus and Dahok by any means necessary."  
Xena paused with the cup halfway to her mouth. "Well you don't dream small do you?"  
Artemis gave a small snort. "At this point we're trying not to dream at all. Dahok has been trying to get into our dreams."  
Xena set her cup don and blinked at her. "He's been in your dreams?"  
"Yeah. The first one was a doozy, that's where I got this." Artemis held up her arm still wrapped in a bandage. The other dreams not so much, once we figured out what he was trying to do we learned how to block him out but it's been difficult. He's learning our weaknesses."  
Xena sighed and leaned forward resting her elbows on the table. "I wouldn't know how to find Dahok but Draxxus, him I can find."  
Tracey couldn't help but snort too, mirroring Artemis's. "If only you knew my friend, if only you knew. We started a business together and it's taken flight in the last two years... we've never dream small." Biting her lip a little, Tracey took a small sip from her cup and let it run down her throat before speaking again.  
"I had an idea to use the wolves and any other wild dogs around here to find Draxxus, even though it's dangerous to get close to the wolves... I think it's a better shot than nothing. My feathered friends are already looking for Draxxus, but they won't be able to smell him like the wolves and dogs would." She looked at Hercules and hoped he wouldn't speak out against her idea, but if he did than she might even have to go out on her own and find them. He'd be mad to be sure, but she would do anything to make the hunting, the suffering, the fear stop.  
Xena smirked and looked at Artemis. "So she's good with animals, what's your special talent? Fish?"  
Artemis raised an eyebrow and held her hand up a ball of fire springing to life. She closed her hand and snuffed it out without answering. Xena frowned and crossed her arms. "I'll find Draxxus. I owe him a swift beating anyway, he's been blackmailing centaurs into his organization for way too long and I'm going to put a stop to it." She made the statement sound final and Hercules wasn't going to argue with her until he saw the look on Tracey's face, he checked Artemis's face but she was better at keeping her thoughts and emotions to herself and he sighed.  
"Xena I think we're all going to be coming with you to find him. Tracey isn't the type to just sit and wait and neither is Artemis."  
Iolaus chuckled and squeezed Artemis. "I bet you're looking forward to doing some damage of your own after all you've taken." He teased.  
Artemis smiled but it didn't touch her eyes which were locked on Xena's. Xena saw a determination to match her own minus the self sacrificing streak she had. "Oh yeah. I'm looking forward to paying him with interest for that last beating."  
"No way. I am not taking two untrained people into what will probably turn into a blood bath." She objected.  
Artemis stood up and Iolaus groaned. "Come outside Xena. I want to show you something."  
Tracey could feel her pointed ears wiggle and a heat started to rise in her cheeks. It wasn't a blush but more out of anger and she stood up, the anger she was feeling right now toward Xena slowly started to make her eyes turn red. Her opinion of this woman was starting to slide down hill with an avalanche of rocks and rubble. With a quick blink of her eyes the red was gone and was replaced by a misty white color. With flowing hand gestures, Tracey opened the door to Jason's home and used the wind to push Xena forcefully from the house, following behind her with Artemis. "We may not have your training but we aren't helpless." Tracey nearly growled. "Artemis, if you would be so kind... before I take the air right out of her lungs. Manners matter..." The last part she muttered under her breath but she knew Artemis heard her.  
Iolaus, Jason and Hercules followed them out past the garden. Xena was furious her eyes snapping with dark anger. Artemis cleared her throat and Xena glanced at the self possessed woman. "Tracey doesn't like being discounted. It's a sore spot for her but I don't really blame her. But something tells me a display of magical power doesn't impress you."  
Xena sneered. "It's just another way to cheat. Training takes effort and patience and years of dedication."  
Artemis held her arm out blocking Tracey with a glance when she sensed Tracey tensing up. "You're right, it does, but magical training takes years to master as well. I should know. Before I was given these powers I was a witch. I spent decades honing my craft, but it wasn't all I learned how to do." She darted forward and swept Xena's feet out from under her.  
Xena flipped herself back up onto her feet but Artemis kept coming and Tracey realized that in all the years she'd seen Arti and her lover Fox play fight and spar she'd never seen Artemis go all out. She knew Artemis had martial arts training but she'd never seen her use it until now. Artemis spun kicking Xena in the side before following it up with a backhanded fist that Xena blocked. Xena started matching Artemis and the blows and kicks flurried in near silence. Neither woman yelled out of made more than a few grunts or yelps. Iolaus, Hercules and Json watched the fight with various levels of concern. Hercules was used to warrior women, they all were but they hadn't expected Artemis to be one too and they were all wondering who would come out on top. In the end Xena went for a risky punch to the solar plexus and Artemis blocked with her crossed forearms only to scream in pain as Xena's fist connected with the bandage on her arm. Blood bloomed on the white fabric and Artemis staggered back, Xena stopped moving and both women were breathing hard. "I'm sorry… shit… I'm sorry." Xena gasped moving forward to try to help.  
Artemis waved the apology away and gave a breathless laugh that Xena joined in a moment later. They were both giddy from the exertion and the adrenaline and just from being able to use skills long honed. Artemis held her arm against her chest. "Look Xena. Tracey might not have my training, she's not a fighter, but she's not helpless in any sense. Her family was military, she's lived in some of the most dangerous places in the world. And with her powers she's formidable in a way that is unique to her. It would be a mistake to forget that."  
Xena considered it for a few minutes then held a hand out to Tracey. "It was my mistake. I won't discount your skills."  
Tracey let out the breath she had been holding when Xena clipped Artemis's arm and looked Xena square it the face. After a long moment, she clasped her hand and nodded. Same here." She replied.  
Nargis, who had been perched on her shoulder, sidled down to Tracey's wrist and cawed at Xena before she quickly withdrew her hand and held him close to her chest. He fluffed himself up again as if to tell her that he still wasn't happy about being caged. Tracey looked down at the bird and stroked his head, shaking her own. "Now that all this has been handled, we should take care of your arm Artemis, come on." She said before letting Xena's hand go and turning to return back to the house. She glanced up at Hercules as she passed and smirked.  
Artemis followed her into the house leaving Xena and the men outside in the sunshine. "Where did you find them?" She asked.  
Iolaus chuckled. "In a thunderstorm." He replied grinning cheekily.  
"They were brought here by Zeus for reasons we weren't aware of until the dreams started. According to the Oracle at Delphi they're here to save History." Hercules added.  
Xena watched the two women through the window for a minute. Artemis had unwound the bandage and was having Tracey rinse the blood away with ice cold water. "That's a nasty cut. How's it actually happen?"  
"She broke a mirror in her dream. I think she broke Dahoks hold on her and got hurt for it." Jason said softly.  
Xena winced when she saw Artemis pick up the needle and thread and start stitching over the broken sutures. She went into the house. "Here, let me help." She glanced at Tracey who was turning a little green. "Hercules needs your help getting supplies together."  
"Thank you." Tracey said, quickly washing off her hands and drying them on a towel she had placed beside the bowl. "Sorry Arty, I'm okay for blood and everything but sewing yourself up it just nasty."  
Quickly she started to grab blankets, tying them up securely and placing them on the table so they can be grabbed on the way out. The herbs that she and Jason had bundled together were put into a small box and them packed in her knapsack for use later, but she hoped that they wouldn't need them at all. Tracey wrapped up fruits, nuts, dried meat a plenty, bread, cheese that wouldn't perish while they were traveling. She put extra rags, bandages, and sewing supplies in her bag until it was nearly overflowing. She added a good length of rope as a spare precaution and went over a mental checklist in her head to make sure she had everything and added what she had forgotten. "I've got a good portion of supplies packed." She said, coming to a stop in front of Hercules. "What else do you think we'll need?"  
He took her gently by the shoulders and looked down at her. "I think if you pack anything more the horse's legs will collapse and Jason might starve to death." He smiled at her.  
Xena took over restitching Artemis's wound and inspected it while she did. "You did a good job. But that had to hurt."  
Artemis nodded. "I had Tracey keep the skin cold which helped numb it some but I still felt like throwing up when it was done."  
"What did you cover this with? It looks so… healthy." Xena looked at the bandage noting the flecks of green.  
Artemis chuckled. "Witch Hazel, Yarrow and garlic mashed up in Honey. Messy but effective." She motioned to a bowl of the stuff next to the clean bandages.  
Xena finished the sutures and smeared some of the mixture on her arm before rewrapping it. They watched Tracey pack for a moment then Xena turned away when Hercules took Tracey by the shoulders. Artemis gave her a knowing look and patted her arm as she stood. "He has an effect doesn't he?" She murmured softly.  
"You aren't wrong." Xena replied busying herself with washing her hands.  
Artemis patted her shoulder and walked over to Tracey. "Do you think you'll have room for the kitchen sink?" She asked with a smile.  
"Probably, but I don't think Sojin would care to carry that and I'm sure Jason would be missing it." Tracey replied, sticking her tongue out at her and then at Hercules. "You told him about my hoarding tendencies didn't you?" The question itself was rhetorical but they were right, she was packing a lot, but she didn't like the thought of being unprepared for whatever they got themselves into.  
"Even here I will be well prepared. I'll call the horses and then we can leave... Do we have a direction in which we should head first?" Tracey asked before putting her lips close together and letting out several high pitched whistles, calling Sojin and the few of his who happened to follow him to Thebes when she and Hercules came back.  
Artemis smiled. "I didn't have to and Tracey slow your roll will ya? I am not anywhere near ready to go, neither is Iolaus. And I'm pretty sure Xena needs a few minutes to decide where to start."  
Tracey gave her a lopsided smile and sighed. "Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself again. I guess we should at least wait till the morning that way you can rest and by that time we'll have a clear plan."  
Artemis gave her a one armed hug and smiled at Hercules. "You ok with leaving tomorrow morning?"  
He nodded. "Yeah. Tomorrow sounds great."  
Xena smiled. "I'll check my maps and figure out where to start."  
Artemis nodded and headed for the door. "I'll let Iolaus know and we'll get what we need together. It's not even noon yet, why don't we just enjoy the rest of the day?"  
Sojin and the horse that Hercules had ridden here to Thebes came galloping over the grassy ridge and neighed when they saw Hercules and Tracey. A smile came to Tracey's lips when she beheld the stallion and she nodded too. Artemis's plan was a good one and one she could live with. "Okay, I can live with this plan and now we don't have to worry about packing much tomorrow because we're mostly ready as is." Tracey said, patting the stallion's neck and stroking his soft hair. "I think I'll go for a ride then... It's an open invitation if you want to come with me Hercules."  
Hercules nodded and rubbed the neck of the mare he rode most often. Artemis watched them ride off then looked at Iolaus and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Take me home and make me forget my name."  
He laughed and his blue eyes sparkled in a way Xena had thought she'd never get to see again. He took Artemis's hand and called out a goodbye to Jason and Xena as they ran up the road. Jason looked at Xena and motioned to the house. "Well I haven't eaten lunch. Care to join me?"  
"I think I might." She replied and followed him into the house ignoring the pang of jealousy and loss at seeing two men she had once loved in love with other women.


	9. Chapter 8: The Hunted Become the Hunters

The following morning Artemis and Iolaus met Tracey at Jasons house. Artemis was wearing her leggings under a sturdy leather vest and a thick length of wool wrapped around her waist. She smiled at Tracey dressed in her blue elf gear again. "Don't worry doll, I packed a change of clothes for you too." She patted the saddlebags she'd carried down with her.  
Xena was checking her own gear when they arrived. "We're headed to Corinth. That's the last place I heard a rumor about him being. We can trail him from there."  
Iolaus put the saddlebags on the horse Artemis was going to be riding and checked the saddle. Tracey had to giggle when Iolaus checked the saddle girth to make sure it wasn't loose on the horse Artemis would be using and looked at the horse as she snorted. She went over and patted Iolaus's shoulder and then stepped over to the horse's side too.

"Um Iolaus, did you know that if Artemis got on the horse now she'd slip?" She said stroking the horse's neck and watched as the horse bobbed her head. "She's holding her breath so you think the girth is tight enough."  
When Tracey saw his confused expression, she leaned over and started poking Wind, Artemis's horse, in the sides until the horse heaved out a breath and in a quick movement, she tightened the girth and finished with the leather straps. Wind heaved another breath and shook her head. This caused Tracey to laugh and pat her neck before going to check on Gust, Iolaus's horse to make sure he wasn't trying to trick Iolaus too... he was, but she quickly fixed the problem and went to Sojin. The stallion bumped her shoulder with his great head and she rubbed her knuckles over his cheeks and laughed.  
"Anxious to get on the road my friend? Can't say that I blame you, I am too." Tracey said, quickly alighting to his back and taking his mane in her hands and adjusting her knapsacks and the blankets she had packed for herself and Hercules. "Nargis my friend, will you fly on and scout ahead."  
The bird chirped and took flight, heading off to Corinth, the rest of them would be headed off shortly to follow. Artemis mounted and got comfortable. "It's like traveling with a walking talking Disney Princess." She muttered. "If she starts whistling I'm going to turn her bird into an appetizer."

Corinth was a cacophony of noise and sensation after the quiet of Thebes. They found an out of the way inn and stabled the horses. While they grabbed food they decided to split up and start asking around for one of Draxxus's lieutenants, a man named Phedrion. If they couldn't find him they'd ask around the local Centaur herd which was where Tracey and Hercules were going. Xena would ask some of the less savory types in the poorer section and Iolaus and Artemis would be checking in the Market place.  
Tracey stuck close to Hercules and kept her eyes open as they pass through the crowded streets. The information they were able to gather from some peddlers on the streets lead them out of the city and they carefully proceeded to the surrounding forests. Centaurs never did like to visit the villages of the mortals because there were always conflicts between the two races. "What can you tell me about Centaurs in general Hercules?" Tracey asked as she listened to the smallest of sounds when they entered the forest. "What should we expect from them?"  
He held her hand while they walked his eyes alert while he spoke. "They're noble beings who've had to live with a lot of intolerance. Very proud, and they have a number of traditions that are hard to understand. I've learned that if you treat them with respect they can be incredible allies. But they never forget an insult."  
At the last part Tracey had to smile, an inside joke from her world. The Centaurs sounded a lot like Hippogryffs, half horse and half eagle, but very proud. In the back of her mind Tracey was already rehearsing what she would say to them if they came across the Centaurs and soon she would get her chance. Suddenly a twig snapped under a heavy hoof and she halted in her tracks, ears twitching to the noise and then her eyes fixating on where it had come from. "Hercules, someone is there." Tracey said, pointing through the trees at a dark form several paces to their right.  
"I see him. He's a scout. If we wait here more will follow." Hercules stopped and they waited.  
"Hercules, son of Zeus. What brings you to our territory uninvited." A truly massive specimen of the Centaur species stepped out of the shadows of the trees and approached them. His skin was patterned with scars and he wore a massive club on his hip.  
Hercules inclined his head. "Nessus. Guardian of the River. I came for information."  
Nessus regarded him coolly then looked at Tracey. "You are not of this land, or even this world." It was a statement of fact.  
Looking at him in turn, Tracey eyed him from head to hoof and nodded. She gave him a slight bow of her head and averted her eyes to his hooves until she straightened her posture and looked him in his calm brown eyes. "You are well informed Guardian, yes, I'm not of this world." Tracey said, her pointed ears wiggling as more Centaurs arrived and surrounded them. "I have a task to do here, one that would benefit all, Centaurs and mortals alike, but we need your help."  
She had to be patient and respectful, not that she couldn't be most of the time, but time was against them and she was anxious to make things right here. He stepped forward and leaned down to get a better look at her. He touched her ears gently and snorted before stepping back. "And how can you help the Centaur race?"  
She didn't move upon the Centaur's approach and looked deeply into his shining eyes when he touched her ears. "What we want to do we do for all, not just Centaurs. All Centaurs, mortals and Gods alike will be able to have a history for the future." She said shortly. "Whatever is coming will eradicate all life and rewrite a new history, a less favorable one for all who don't succumb to its darkness first. All will suffer and die if we don't do something about this evil."  
"This evil has a name. I have heard it in the dark of moonless nights. Speak it, if you want our aid speak the name." He rested a hand on the butt of his club.  
"To fear the name is to admit to fear itself." Tracey says quietly while straightening her small frame. "I don't fear this evil and his name is Dahok. My friend and I will erase him and do what we must to make things right." She stepped forward and extended a hand to him. "Will you help us, great Guardian of the River?"  
The centaurs shifted uneasily but Nessus started laughing. He grasped her hand carefully in his massive hand and kept laughing. "You have the soul of a centaur. Brave and foolish but honest. I will help where I can."  
"Thank you Master Nessus." Tracey replied, giving him another respectful bow. "We have friends searching for Draxxus as we speak, we know he is involved with Dahok otherwise he wouldn't have tried to kidnap myself and my friend Artemis."  
She took a deep breath and sighed. "What can you tell us about the people who work for Draxxus? And do you know where he was last rumored to be seen?"  
Nessus's front hoof stomped angrily and the centaurs around him snorted. "Draxxus is a thorn in my side. He coerces my people into being his errand dogs and treats them no better. He withholds their families and threatens them with harm or death if my people refuse his orders. He is not in Corinth, I have seen to that. He has spies here for certain but he does not operate here. You may find one of his operators at the Broken Dog Tavern in Corinth."  
Tracey bowed again and scratched Nargis under his chin and whispered quick words to him. "Nargis, my friend please fly and find Xena, Artemis and Iolaus. We will meet them back at our inn before going to the Tavern." She said, preparing her to continue moving forward. "If you need anything from us Nessus, you have but to ask and we will do our best to help you in turn. Hercules, is there anything else you want to ask before he head back?" Nargis chirped and took off, disappearing over the trees.  
"What does Dahok whisper to you Nessus? On those dark moonless nights." Hercules asked.  
"He promises me and my people dominion in Greece. He whispers his vile dreams into my ear and his sweet promises are like poisoned wine in the minds of my people. They wish to join with him and yet I know he would trample us all in the end. He wants to burn the world until it is as empty as he is." Nessus watched Tracey for a moment then motioned to his people who moved away, when they were alone he took an amulet from around his neck and placed it around her neck. "Show this to any centaur you meet and tell them that Nessus commands them with your voice. Do not misuse this gift little outworlder. I will know if you do."  
"I will honor this gift and promise that it will not be used for any purpose other to restore peace to these lands." Tracey replies, touching the amulet and giving him a kind smile. "May you and the Centaurs know peace and prosperity wherever you go... that includes when you dream." She drew her fingers over the amulet and memorized all the details, crafted by a master craftsmen, something the Centaurs were known for.  
Nessus turned and disappeared back into the forest, he was surprisingly silent for such a large being. Hercules relaxed and let out a breath. "You are amazing."  
He took her hand again and they headed back towards Corinth. The forest seemed a little less oppressive now that they'd met with and been approved of by Nessus.

Iolaus and Artemis had struck out in the marketplace and were trawling the taverns. Iolaus was grinding his teeth while men eyed and made lascivious comments at Artemis but he knew they couldn't afford to start a fight. Artemis was chatting up a guard sitting at the bar and he had to admire how she was getting all sorts of information out of him just by smiling and leaning forward so her generous cleavage was on display. She evaded the drunken guards roaming hand and got off her stool with a cheeky comment the came back to him. He couldn't help looping his arm around her waist claiming her as his own. She smiled at him and rubbed his back. "So Draxxus might have a spy staying at the Broken Dog Tavern."  
He grimaced. It was one of the worst taverns in Corinth, it was far from safe and he wasn't sure he wanted to take her in but he knew he couldn't leave her on her own. She seemed to sense his hesitation and turned so they were pressed together from chest to hip looking up at him. "Don't worry love, I'm not getting separated from you."  
He sighed and they left the tavern but before they'd gotten far Nargis appeared and landed on her shoulder chirping and Artemis stroked his chest. "I think our field trip is on hold. I believe this is Tracey's signal to return to our Inn."  
Iolaus tried not to let out a sigh of relief, maybe he and Hercules could convince the girls to stay at the Inn while they investigated the Broken Dog Tavern. Artemis bumped his hip with hers. "Don't get any funny ideas Iolaus." She gave him a smile and they walked back to the Inn where Xena was already waiting.  
"I might have a lead." She said leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed.  
"The Broken Dog Tavern." Iolaus and Artemis said at the same time.  
"I see we all got the same answer." Xena said dryly.  
"Yeah. As soon a Herc and Tracey get here we can plan out next move." Iolaus replied sitting down and pulling Artemis to sit across his lap since there was a shortage of chairs at the moment.  
It wasn't a few minutes later that Tracey and Hercules arrived and Tracey had to smile when she saw Nargis on Artemis's shoulder and that everyone was already back at the inn. She was just glad that they didn't have to waste any time to go look for them. Giving Hercules's hand a gentle squeeze, Tracey smiled at him and then to the rest.  
"I'm glad to see you all here and by the look on everyone's faces you've all come to the same answer as we did. We really have to hurry now, if anyone we talked to happened to work for Draxxus then they've probably reported to his Lieutenant already and he's making arrangements to get out of this city." Tracey said, hoping to forestall any argument from Iolaus and Xena. "With that said, let's hurry up and come up with some ideas."  
Artemis chuckled. "You always have lived life in the fast lane darlin. I think this might be a job for Occam's Razor."  
"Occams Razor? Is that some kind of weapon?" Xena asked looking interested.  
Artemis shook her and and rubbed her hand up and down Iolaus's forearm. "It's a principle theory where we come. The simplest answer is usually the correct one. Why don't we just go to the Broken Dog Tavern and have one of us go in and make contact as if we're trying to make a deal? Draxxus is a businessman. A crooked, blackmailing, kidnapping bastard of a businessman but he still think with his pockets. They're smart pockets for sure but it's the same deal no matter where you are. If Xena goes in and lets it be known that she has a deal Draxxus just can't refuse the spy will come out of the woodwork and take us right to Draxxus."  
"And what can Draxxus just not resist? Xena asked acerbically.  
"Us." Artemis replied.  
As expected Hercules, Xena and Iolaus all objected, loudly. Artemis waited until they subsided her eyes on Tracey. As much as she didn't like the fact that they were going to be used as bait, Tracey nodded in agreement to Artemis's statement.  
"She's right, time and time again Draxxus and his men have failed to capture us and bring us successfully where we need to be delivered that Dahok is probably pretty pissed with them and he's losing patience with them. If they don't get it right soon, they'll be tortured and killed. Not that I really care what happens to them, but if Xena sets this offer out on the table, Draxxus will more than likely take the deal in hopes to appease his Master."  
"No." Hercules.  
"Absolutely not." Xena.  
"Arti please. Can we just find another option?" Iolaus.  
Artemis sighed and ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "Look, I need to change the bandage on my arm. You guys come up with a better plan before Tracey and I get back and we'll try it or we'll go with plan A."  
She stood up and motioned for Tracey to follow her up to their rooms where the medical supplies were being kept. Pushing back her own hair from her face, Tracey followed Artemis up to the bedroom they would be sharing and closed the door behind them. She looked at her best friend and sighed. "Men..." She muttered with a smile. "They get to be so stubborn at times... You're planning to slip out aren't you?" It was more of a rhetorical question, but she knew when Artemis made up her mind, not much was going to change it and she had always admired that quality about her.  
Artemis made a lowering motion with her hand as they neared the stairs. "Yeah, they're gonna be pissed but I am beyond ready to be done with this shit. We could capture spies and track Draxxus for months but I don't have another three months of being chased in me and eventually Hercules and Iolaus are going to get called away to help someone on the far side of Greece and I know they're not gonna want us in that kind of danger." She eased through the door of an empty room and opened the shutters motioning for Tracey to follow her.  
"I need you to send Nargis to them as soon as we leave Corinth. He's our trail of breadcrumbs. And let me do all the talking when we meet Draxxus, I have an idea that may keep us alive and unpossessed for long enough that Herc and the others can find us."  
They ran through the streets once they were out of the Inn stopping once to ask for directions to the Broken Dog. They arrived about 10 minutes after they left and Artemis figured they had another 15 minutes before Hercules and the others came to find them, another ten minutes after that for them to reach the Broken Dog so about half an hour in her estimation. They entered the Tavern and both of them were disgusted by the smell. Artemis hurried to the bar and started making inquiries. As soon as she mentioned Draxxus's name a thin man with a rat like face approached them. Artemis wasted no time. "We're the women Draxxus is looking for. We're done running, take us to him and you'll be rewarded like none other."  
He smirked and looked them over. "Not gonna put up a fuss?"  
"Not even a little." Artemis replied. "We want to make him a deal. And like I said. We're done running."  
He nodded. "He never gives up once he sets his sights on something."  
He motioned for them to follow him through the back of the Tavern and out to a waiting wagon. They climbed in the back and he covered them with a tarp and set out. Artemis nudged Tracey when they passed through the main gate. Solemnly Tracey nodded and sent Nargis out to get Hercules and the others. She trusted Artemis and knew she wouldn't purposely put them in danger needlessly. They swayed with the motion on the wagon and she listened to everything she could, noting landmarks where she could from beneath the tarp that covered them. "So... what's the plan B if plan A falls through?" She asked quietly.  
"Burn them to the ground." Artemis replied. "I won't let him wrap me in wet canvas and half kill me this time. I know fire is hard on you but if I give the signal I want you to torch everything and everyone that tries to keep us. Fire purifies and the kind of evil he's trying to commit needs it."  
Tracey took a deep breath and nodded in understanding.

"Perhaps we could combine our fire, it should burn hot enough to scorch everything. Hopefully I don't get sick... I've never had to kill anyone before and I know you've seen death, but it will probably turn my stomach if things should go wrong."  
Artemis gripped Traceys hand and squeezed. "Just remind yourself that he wants to turn us over to Dahok. That'll help ease any guilt."  
They bumped along the road hidden in the wagon for hours. The rat faced man never spoke to them and Artemis was confident he headn't overheard them. When they started slowing Artemis crawled out from under the tarp and moved to sit beside the spy. He nodded to her and motioned to what looked like a half abandoned village. Roofs were fallen in and only a handful of houses were intact, a massive stone fortress stood intact however and the wagon drove through the gate. Artemis had Tracey move up to the front. A handful of guards stopped them inside the gate and the spy waved them away. "They're here to see Draxxus." He said and led them into the fortress.  
Taking in a nervous breath and letting it out slowly, Tracey gave Artemis a nod to show that she was ready for whatever they needed to do. She stayed close to Arty's side as they walked, taking in everything around them and sending the images to Nargis so he would have an easier time showing Hercules and the others to where they would be going. The fortress itself was massive but filthy. Rodents scurried across the floor, their paws leaving prints in the thick dust that hadn't been cleaned in a long time and this caused Tracey to wrinkle her nose. She had cleaned houses in her world that looked like this, but even there it had never gotten that bad. Tattered tapestries and rugged looking rugs were all over the place, bringing out the doom and gloom of the place far more than the rag-tag band of misfits that lounged about waiting for orders. "I pray he doesn't ask us to clean up this shit hole." Tracey muttered to Artemis, a half smirk on her lips.  
Artemis smirked back and walked in like she owned the place. They knew they were getting somewhere when the surroundings started to get cleaner. The room they were ushered into was immaculate and Draxxus himself sat at a huge wooden table sorting through scrolls. Chests of several sizes sat on the surface and scattered around the room on shelves. He looked up and his face registered total shock. Artemis laughed and stalked forward making Tracey follow her. She pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the table from her and sat down crossing her legs and grinned at him. "Oh good, you're surprised. I hate being predictable."  
Tracey let out a little giggle which she muffled behind her hand and instead of sitting in a chair and the table, she decided to stand and crossed her arms on the back of Artemis's chair. She eyed the entire room, keeping watch on where the guards stood positioned in case they needed to make an escape.  
"Who knew you'd go to so much trouble for two women." Tracey said quietly, resting her chin in her palm while her elbow resting on the back of the chair. "And still fail to acquire them... good help is so hard to find these days."  
He set a scroll aside and relaxed into his chair. "Well since you're both unbound and unharmed I take it you're surrendering."  
Artemis snorted. "Not likely. We're tired of running and since we know who you're working for it seemed like a prudent time to make a deal."  
"And whom exactly do you think I work for?" He asked raising an eyebrow.  
Artemis looked up at Tracey and gave an evil smile before looking back at him. "Dahok."  
The temperature in the room seemed to drop and Draxxus stiffened for a moment before forcing himself to relax again. Artemis watched him and kept up the evil smile. "Did he explain what he wanted us for?"  
He ran a hand over his goatee. "He only inferred that you were essential to his goals."  
Artemis held up a hand and a ball of fire manifested. "Oh we are. See where I come from I'm a sorceress. A powerful magic user with a tendency towards dark magics. I'll back any God who can help me get what I want."

"And what do you want." Draxxus asked a little curious despite himself.  
"Security. What else? Its hard being a woman in a mans world. All I want is security, monetary, physical, emotional… power. Thats all we both want." Artemis reached up and patted Tracey's arm.  
"Oh and lets not forget immortality and all the luxuries we could ever want." Tracey said with another smile. She produced a ball of water, fire, earth, and wind. The use of all these elements at once, which she was surprised that she could do without getting a headache, turned her irises completely black.  
"Funny, I would have thought that Dahok would let his partner in on the details of his plans... I mean you are an important pawn in his plans so why wouldn't he? Oh that's right..." Tracey replied, looking down at Artemis. "Unless he's just going to be used and then discarded like the rest of the broken toys."  
Artemis gave a peal of laughter. "Oh yeah… I can't believe I forgot the immortality." She lightly thunked her forehead with the heel of her hand then looked at Draxxus. "So what do you say big guy? Want to rise to the top with us? Secure your own place?"  
He regarded them both carefully. "What's the deal?"  
Artemis leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table chin in one hand. "You call Dahok and tell him he can have one of us. No muss, no fuss, no fights. But we have terms. Whichever one of us he doesn't choose is made immortal, that is to say, eternally the age we are now and unkillable, were not stupid. The one he doesn't choose gets to rule all of Greece for eternity and both our lovers are to be unharmed. Sound fair?"  
Draxxus blinked at them both and a slow smile curled his lips. "Oh if we had only met under other circumstances."  
Artemis gave a sultry smirks and a seductive laugh. "Oh Honey… if you'd just asked in the first place things could have gone so much nicer. Hard to convince a girl when you kidnap her the very first time you meet her. Oh and I want Peron dead."  
Tracey blinked and straightened her posture as if something just occurred to her. "Oh Artemis! You just made me think of something too!" She said before looking at Draxxus. "I want to play boulder tag with Thaddeus too. As payback for scrambling my brains a second time." With a flick of her wrist, the four balls started to dance around her and Artemis and she let out a soft laugh that sounded like chimes. "If we had met under different circumstances I don't think much would have changed." Tracey replied, looking him over from head to toe. "You're not our type."  
Draxxus chuckled and stood. "Wait here. I'll go prepare the temple for Dahok's arrival. Might want to say your goodbyes to each other."  
He left and on his way out told the guards to keep an eye on them. Artemis looked around and made a show of propping her feet up on Draxxus's desk. "So that worked better than I planned."  
"Indeed." Tracey agreed, starting to mosey around the table. "What do you think, about twenty minutes, maybe forty-five or so?" She was referring to the amount of time it would take to bring all the essential people together and then take them to the temple and everything else to be prepared for Dahok. While she walked around the table, Tracey picked up a few of the pieces of paper and studied them absently. The maps she picked up next made her stop and take a few minutes more to look at. Tracey was always curious about where cities and towns were and with eidetic memory, she would be able to recall where every one of them were and how far away the cities were from each other.

'Please hurry Hercules. I don't want to have to burn everything down, but I will do what I have to to make sure all my friends, including you are safe.' She thought, pitching herself forward and kicking off with her feet to bring them over her head and touch back down on top of the table. She walked easily on the table and put on the air of boredom while she sauntered back over to Artemis.  
Artemis shrugged. "Depends on how ceremonial Dahok is." She started rolling a ball of fire back and forth between her hands trying to take the edge off her nerves.

Hercules, Xena and Iolaus were more than pissed, all three of them were in a fury, exacerbated by an intense fear that drove them to ride faster than was probably safe. Hercules looked up to track Nargis who had shown up just as they were arriving at the Broken Dog Tavern. When Iolaus had asked about the girls he'd been told that they left with a rat faced man who was a known associate of Draxxus. When Nargis had started chirping insistently they'd followed him without bothering to grab their supplies from the Inn. They followed the bird to a run down mostly abandoned village with a fortress at its center. Xena stopped her horse in front of them and Hercules nearly ran her over. "Why are we stopping?" He asked harshly.  
"We can't just go galloping in. What if Draxxus just kills them because we rush in?" She asked.  
Iolaus fidgeted in his saddle. "I hate to admit it Herc but she's right. We need to sneak in."  
Hercules growled something under his breath as they turned away from the fortress to find an alternate way in.


	10. Chapter 9: Sacrifice

When Draxxus led them into the Temple Artemis and Tracey weren't sure what to expect but it wasn't an empty room with a deep hole in the floor. Artemis thought back to her dream and hid a shudder. Foreshadowing was a bitch. "So how does this work?" She asked.  
"If you open the door again you're alive and Dahok is here. If not… well it was nice meeting you." He closed and barred the door shutting them into the temple and the well.  
Artemis snorted. "Chicken."  
"Aw no farewells?" Tracey said with a smirk but Draxxus had already gone. She turned to look at Artemis and shrugged before a series of images flashed into her mind and she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. This allowed her to control the flow of images into her mind, Tracey was pleased to see that Nargis had found Hercules and the others and that they had already arrived. She kind of wilted a bit when Nargis sent her images of their faces and a slight frown covered her features. "Well I have some good news and some bad news... which would you like to know first?" She coughed and drew her arms closer around her, trying to ignore the black well in the floor.  
"Oh lets have the bad first, that way the good news is a pleasant after taste." Artemis replied watching the well.  
"Well Hercules, Iolaus and Xena have figured out that we left without them and are pissed..." Tracey started with a frown. "But the good news is that they're here and they're looking for a way inside. So we have to figure out what to do now."  
"Just let me in." A voice said from the well. "Thats all you have to do and I'll handle the rest."  
A slight shiver went up Tracey's spine and she suddenly turned to face the well. She looked to Artemis and took a deep breath to calm her nerves and clasped her hand.

"You say it like it's that easy and we're actually going to listen to you." She laughed, searching deep inside herself and finding her center. When she did, Tracey began to reinforce it with her will and happy thoughts and memories. "What's your plan Arty?"  
Artemis took a deep breath and Tracey felt her going still. It was unnerving since Artemis was never still, she was always moving, always doing something. She looked at Tracey and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry doll. This is our best shot at stopping him." She let go of Tracey's hand and stepped forward. "I'll let you in. But on one condition. You let Tracey walk out of here unharmed.  
"Artemis Therrien I refuse to let you do this!" Tracey shouted in complete shock and outrage. "You're strong and I know this, but I can't let you run the risk of losing yourself if Dahok possesses you."  
Tracey really didn't like this plan. "Think about what Iolaus will do."  
Artemis turned and looked at her. "I have. And I've thought about what you'll do, and Hercules, and even Xena but I stand the best chance. I'm counting on you guys to help me find my way home." She backed up towards the well. "I'm not going in alone, remember? I have you and Iolaus and Hercules and Xena and everyone who made my life what it is. In my heart and soul."  
"Okay, I'll let you do this but only under protest." Tracey said with a sigh. "I'll keep the others off your back and try to keep Dahok contained until you get back." Pulling Artemis into a tight embrace, Tracey didn't want to let go in case she never saw her again. "Be careful and be safe."  
Artemis hugged her back and turned back to the well. She stood at the edge and looked down into the well. She could hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the door. "Ok Dahok. Slip into someone a little more comfortable."  
As she looked into the abyss she could feel it looking back. She saw a pair of slitted red vipers eyes approaching her at incredible speed. She lowered her defenses and stood waiting as the darkness welled up and sped into her with the impact of a tsunami. She felt like she should have been flung off her feet but the darkness only lifted her up as it poured into her She saw the door crash inwards and Hercules, Iolaus and Xena swarmed inside in time to watch the darkness pouring into her. Her heart ached at the stricken look on Iolaus face and saw the burning hatred on Xena's, Hercules just stared at her in disbelief. She had to look away as she felt the flow of Dahoks intrusion slowing. She cast a prayer out into the universe before she slipped into the black. "Gods and Goddesses to whom I owe allegiance. Give me strength to hold him, give me the power to destroy him and give my friends the love to forgive me."  
The blackness swallowed her whole and she found herself face to face with Evil. Dahok laughed and it seared her but she stood firm and for the moment that was enough to keep him from using her body. She had to trust that Tracey would find a way to contain her until she could destroy him.  
Iolaus collapsed to his knees when the blackness finished pouring into Artemis. He felt like he couldn't get a breath and there was a ringing in his ears. He vaguely heard Xena and Hercules berating Tracey for leaving without them, for putting themselves in such danger but all he could ask was one word. "Why?"  
Everyone stopped talking and looked at him as he shoved himself to his feet and grabbed Tracey by the shoulders and screamed the word. "Why?!"  
He was crying but didn't even notice as his blue eyes burned into hers with anguish, pain and the beginnings of loss. "She did it to save us!" Tracey snapped, grabbing his wrists and jamming her fingers into his pressure points and throwing him from her. "My guess is that we have about ten minutes before Dahok has time to get used to Artemis's body! If you want to help you'll either stay out of my way or you'll try to manifest your positive thoughts about Artemis and give her words of encouragement."  
Without looking at them, Tracey was wiping her own tears from her face. It wasn't just because Iolaus had yelled at her and had gotten in her face, but she was worried about Artemis and she needed to bring her back safely. Tracey held her hands out to the well and fixated on it, slowing her breathing until it was even and she could have a better handle on her abilities. The earth shook a little beneath their feet and then the fragments of rocks and dust collected and formed a hard pillar on the floor to her left, a few inches from the well. She used flowing hand gestures to attract water to her next, it formed a pillar to her right just on the edge of the well. Tracey moved slowly to the other side of the well and didn't let her hands fall though they were starting to grow heavy. A column of air turned and twisted just on the edge and then she swallowed hard. "I will do what I have to... I'm sorry Hercules, I know you don't want me to use fire, but I have to." Tracey said softly, looking into his eyes and giving him a soft smile. "She's my family."  
Tracey's eyes slowly turning red, fire burst forth from her hands and towered in the last spot that she needed the element to be present. With all the elements out on the floor, Tracey's irises became black and and droplets of blood started to trickle from her nose. Still she held on and she would continue to do so until she had Artemis back. Tracey poured her will into her abilities and prayed that it would be enough.  
Hercules looked at Xena and they closed and barred the doors. Iolaus took a few deep breaths and managed to pull himself back together and watched Artemis as she stook completely still her eyes unfocused, face slack. He gritted his teeth and prayed to any God that would listen for help. Once Hercules and Xena barred the door Hercules moved to Tracey's side. "Slow down." He said softly. "Pace yourself or you'll burn out before before he does."  
Iolaus was the first to see the change in Artemis. Her eyes focused and she looked around, then down at her arms and hands. When she looked up he winced, her eyes were red viper eyes and she gave a disturbing smile. "Well hello lover."  
"Let. Her. Go." He ground out.  
"She invited me in." Dahok said with her voice.  
"I plan on discussing that with her." Iolaus replied shortly.  
Dahok laughed and everyone's skin crawled. "You won't get a chance to discuss anything." He raised her arm and a whip of fire crawled from her fingertips and she cracked it menacingly.  
"Trying to... " Tracey answered through gritted teeth. "This isn't as easy as it looks." Looking up at Artemis and grimacing, Tracey grabbed the pillar of water and flicked her wrist at her, encompassing her wrist and quenching the fire. The room began to steam, but she was able to disperse it and bring back the pillar of water. "Artemis! Fight him! I know you can!" She yelled at her. "I don't want to hurt you."  
"Hurt her? What makes you think you could hurt her with me riding her?" Dahok taunted.  
Iolaus stepped closer to Dahok and stared into Artemis's face, Dahok tried to take a step back but couldn't seem to move. Her face went blank and her eyes faded back to unfocused brown. He looked over a Tracey. "Now would be a really good time to put her in a cage of some kind… and maybe call for some back up.""Oh believe me, I'm several steps ahead of you, Iolaus. But I don't think you'll like who I'm going to call." Tracey answered, not even bothering to take care of the blood on her face yet. "Back up and give me some space to work."  
Stomping her foot into the ground, her movements became more sharp and precise as she redirected the earth to wrap around Artemis's wrists and bring her to her knees. The fire she laid down all around Artemis to keep her warm without melting the water she froze around her arms to keep her in place. Once this was done, Tracey wiped the blood from her nose and steadied herself after a brief round of virtigo made her head spin.  
"Oh Ares! I know you're out there! Ares!" She hollered into the air. "I suggest you come down here and visit me or else you'll never see who's been causing havoc for you and your unscheduled wars... I warn you now if you bring Demos I will kill him."  
"Can you yell any louder?" Area asked appearing behind them.  
He took in the scene and raised an eyebrow crossing his arms. "So… lovers quarrel?" He asked sarcastically. "Cause thats really more Aphrodites gig."  
"Not this time it isn't." Tracey growled. "Yes I can but you wouldn't like it... On another matter, here..." She pointed to Artemis and then looked back to the black-clad God beside her. "You asked to be told when and if we found out anything about the power surges and Dahok is the cause for them. Now what are you going to do about it?" She asked. "And don't give me any bullshit answer about not being able to do anything because Zeus said not to... we both know you like to mettle and at the moment Artemis isn't mortal so you can help here. Unless you want Dahok to rewrite history and exclude all the Gods, including yourself." She gave him a smirk and tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to figure out what he was going to do.  
Ares smirked. "Oh I know how to handle the situation." He raised a hand and Iolaus tackled him.  
"Don't you even try or I will find a way to kill you." Iolaus snarled a split second before he was thrown across the room to land in a heap against a wall.  
Hercules put himself between Ares and Artemis. "Killing her isn't the answer here Ares."  
"Tartarus it isn't." Ares snapped. "He's contained, he's helpless for the moment. Now is the perfect time you sentimental idiot!"  
"I didn't ask you to come here to kill Artemis, Ares." Tracey growled, her voice low and menacing. "Combine your powers with mine and we should be able to force Dahok out so we can purify him with a fuck ton of fire." She took a step toward him, a hand out to her side as a ball of fire accumulated there.  
"Kill her and you'll be on my list." She mocked. "Think about it, you have an opportunity here to have a taste of the power I have, perhaps even wield it for a while. There's no doubt that if we combined power you'd acquire some of mine and think of the havoc you could raise with it..."

Dahok let Artemis watch what was going on while he whispered in her mind. "You know they can't stop me, stop us. I was hoping you would be the one to open to me. You're so… different, so strong and pragmatic. You understand power. You've been powerless, but you don't have to be, I can make you great."  
Artemis looked at the illusionary manifestation of Dahok. He had chosen to look like Iolaus in some attempt to appeal to her. She raised an eyebrow. "Do I look that easy?"  
He laughed and her stomach clenched at the evil sound coming from Iolaus's body. She laughed back high and mocking. "Oh come on, it's classic Evil Villain. Next you'll start monologuing about how you plan to take over the world. Usually the offer to join you comes after the monolog but it's still early for Bond Movies."  
"You're right. I did get it out of order. It's so confusing sometimes, I see the future and live in the past because I am denied a present. You are the perfect bridge, with a power that fits me so well and you're a sorceress to boot." Dahok shrugged and reached out to brush the ends of her hair.  
Artemis crossed her arms watching Area and Tracey debate the merits of blowing her body to kingdom come. "Give me a better reason than power to join you Dahok. I already have power."  
Dahok smirked. "How about love?"  
His voice dripped with scorn when he said love. Artemis shook her head. "Love is why I'm here holding you down in the first place."  
"I understand the love for your friend but the men? The warrior woman? You barely know them." Dahok drawled and moved behind her resting his hands on her shoulders while they watched Iolaus struggle to his feet with Xena's help.  
"Don't pretend you know what love even is Dahok. You're a God of Destruction. The darkness that lies between stars and the emptiness of a broken heart. I didn't realize it at first, I'm a little rusty on my Elder Gods but I figured it out when I felt you fill me. You were the darkness that prompted Jehova to speak the words, 'Let there be Light.'. He had help of course, No one God could have pulled off something as complex as the Universe but you were the reason for the creation of light." Artemis smirked up at him.  
"Yesssss." He hissed angrily. "That pure light that drove me out. Jokes on him though, the dark always comes back."  
Artemis shrugged. "Life is pain princess. Anyone telling you differently is selling you something.  
"So what will you do. You can't destroy the dark and Destruction is the inevitable end of all. Entropy, such a delicious way to finish a meal." Dahok turned her to face him, a mocking parody of the tender way Iolaus held her.  
Artemis gave him a bright smile and it confused him. She wrapped her arms around his neck suddenly and brought him down for a kiss, just before their lips met she whispered. "I'm going to light a candle in the dark motherfucker." She locked her mouth on his leaping up and bringing him to the ground. Her body pinned his while she poured white fire into him. 'Forest fires destroy but they also allow new life to grow from the ashes.' She thought as her physical body began to burn with a white hot incandescent fire so hot Traceys water flash steamed. EVeryone fell back at the sheer heat that poured from Artemis locked in stone.  
"And now it's time to get back to work. Get back and let us work!" Tracey shouted, drawing back from the hot stone. "Ares, we're up. Do this for me and I'll give you one night." She didn't need to explain further and turned away from him.  
Reaching out both hands, fingers extending to the pillar of fire that twisted on the edge of the well, it flew into her hands as if it were coming home to her soul. She twisted it and manipulated it with her energy, causing it to grow bright in color. At the moment it went from fire- red to a darker blue and then to a lighter blue. She couldn't give it anymore juice or else the consequences would be damaging, she was already starting to feel the effects and her legs were starting to shake. The fireball in between her hands was large and now she was just waiting for Ares to help. She looked at him through her black eyes and waited. He sighed and poured his fire into hers until it burned so hot Tracey felt like she'd be melted. She poured that fire over Artemis and Hercules, Xena and Iolaus had to leave the chamber or be burned by the intensity of the heat. Iolaus stayed as close to the door as he could and watched heart in his throat.  
Dahok threw Artemis's head back and screamed, a sound full of rage and hatred. Tracey couldn't see well past the white hot corona that surrounded Artemis but she thought she saw the Darkness that had poured into her friend splintering away under the fire. Foul ash floated on the air and was dispersed. The white hot fire covering Artemis started to fade and Tracey felt her own power faltering. Ares dropped his hands letting his own power fade away. As the roaring sound of fire faded away they heard the cracking of stone and the soft pops of quartz exploding inside the stone floor. The heat was oppressive and Ares backed away towards the cooler hallway as Iolaus moved forward. He couldn't approach Artemis because the floor was too hot to stand on but he stood and waited. Tracey dropped to her knees and let her hands fall to her side, her chest heaving as she breathed in stuffy and hot air, but it was air nonetheless. She coughed fitfully and wiped more blood from her nose than she ever had before, which was understandable with the amount of power she had just endured with Ares. Her vision started to blur and she blinked many times to clear out the splotches and white snow that threatened to take hold. "Artemis..." She said softly, looking to where she saw another form on the ground. "Hold on."  
The ground slowly started steam as it cooled from the water Tracey was able to pour over it with the last bit of energy she had. Tracey started to crawl to Artemis and when she got there, she took her wrist and felt for a pulse. Her lips moved silently and she counted, a slight smile on her lips when her other hand floated over her still form and she couldn't sense a trace of Dahok's evil presence anywhere, he was gone, completely and utterly nonexistent. "Iolaus... if you please..." She said quietly, directing him to come forward. "She's all yours."  
Tracey slowly made her way to her feet, a sudden laugh escaped from her lips before she could stop it. It was a little weird and she was pretty sure everyone was giving her a concerned look, but she couldn't help herself and she smirked at Ares. "So that's what it's like to share power with a God... Tell me Ares, was it as good for you as it was for me?"  
Ares gaped at her and then started laughing. "Oh you are a feisty one. Maybe too feisty for someone like my half brother."  
Hercules had come forward and reached out to touch Tracey. "Shut up Ares" He snapped.  
Iolaus used the hilt of his sword to break the stone holding her in place and pulled her into his arms sinking to the ground to hold her. She was covered in soot and her skin was milk white, he was really starting to hate that pallor on her. He stroked her hair as he cradled her against his chest, relieved that she was alive and breathing but terrified of what might have happened to her mind. "Wake up Art… please." He whispered resting his forehead against hers.  
Maybe it was the please that did it but he felt her stir and moved his head to look down at her. She blinked groggily and coughed up soot. "Remind me… not to… imitate the sun…" She wheezed and he gave a choked half laugh tears sliding down his cheeks.  
She looked up at him through the soot and ash and reached up to run her hand through his hair. He took her hand and tried to scowl at her. "I am so mad at you." He rasped.  
"I know." She replied and held his hand.  
Tracey watched as Artemis moved in Iolaus's arms and her smile only grew as he scooped her up into his arms and comforted her. She looked at Ares and smirked again, giving him a respectful bow and telling him to stay smokin' before he vanished in a flash of light. Turning her attention to Hercules, she rested her head on his chest and weakly wrapped her arms around him, a soft sigh escaping her lips. "Don't be angry with us... please..."  
She looked up, almost pleadingly, into his eyes before she started to slump in his arms. "I'm so exhausted right now... can we argue when we get back to the inn?"  
Emotions warred on his face but he finally reined in his temper and hugged her tightly. "Tomorrow, we'll talk about all of this tomorrow."  
Xena watched all of them and sighed. "I'll get you back to Corinth, then I'm going to the Bards School to tell Gabrielle it's all over. That should cheer her up."


	11. Chapter 10: Tomorrow

Tracey woke at dawn alone in the bed to see Hercules sitting at the window staring out at the foggy morning. She was barely aware that she wasn't wearing her clothes from the previous day, but a night shirt that stopped about mid-thigh. Her body was clean and there were no marks or residue of yesterday's events left anywhere on her. A slight blush turned Tracey's cheeks pink at the thought of who could have bathed her and changed her clothes, but she wasn't too concerned about it because she knew that Hercules wouldn't have taken advantage of her that way. She slowly sat up and pushed the covers back from her so she could put her feet down on the wooden floor. Tracey paced herself, not realizing how physically exhausted she was until she tried to cross the floor and nearly stumbled before she caught herself. "Good morning..." She coughed softly, rubbing sleep from her eyes and pushing her dark hair from her face groggily. "Did you sleep at all? How are Iolaus and Artemis doing?"  
"They haven't woken up yet. He replied and turned to look at her, there were dark shadows under his eyes. "He motioned to the chair across from him that was turned to look out the window. "Why did you two do that?" He asked softly.  
Tracey blinked when she beheld the dark circles under his eyes and concern replaced her sleepy features. She obliged and carefully sat down in the chair next to him, making sure she sat in such a way that her night shift wouldn't ride up anymore than she could help. Several thoughts were rushing through her head and she put them in order before speaking softly and answering Hercules's question with one of her own. "Why do you do what you do?"  
She blinked slowly and let out a sigh, watching the fog roll across the ground and a few people started to stir from their homes to get their morning started and open up shops. "I have two points and the answer is simple. Artemis and I did what we had to to make sure that those we care for stayed safe, so the evil and darkness didn't rewrite history and win. My second point is this, the Oracle prophesied that the daughters of the future, that would be Artemis and myself, would be able to restore the balance."  
She laughed as an afterthought hit her and she smiled slowly. "Though she was wrong about something... we couldn't have done it without you. Had we not met you and Iolaus then we wouldn't have had a very strong reason to do what we needed to to keep Dahok from taking over this world. So you really did help."  
He let out a slow breath and rubbed his lower jaw. "You couldn't have found a way to do it without putting you both in a lot of danger? What if Artemis couldn't contain him?"  
"Artemis and I knew the risks of what we were doing." Tracey tried to explain, understanding where Hercules was coming from and his concern. "If Artemis couldn't contain Dahok than I would have done what I had to..." She knew what Artemis would have wanted her to do, but even though she knew she might have to, Tracey didn't think she could have done it. "Everything worked out in the end and we should be happy for it. Dahok won't bother anyone anymore."  
Hercules let out a breath and nodded. "It worries me that you two were ready to sacrifice yourselves but I can't really say I'm that surprised. But I can't…" He paused and struggled to find the right words. "I know you won't be left behind if I go to help people but I can't help people if I'm worried about you getting hurt…"  
Tracey nodded, knowing exactly what he meant and she rested a hand on his leg. With a smile, she pushed herself up from the chair and kissed his cheek. She grabbed a change of clothes from her knapsack and slipped behind the reed screen to change. After that she made the bed and fluffed up the pillows so they looked nice. "I know the worry will be there no matter what I say to try to convince you otherwise, but you really shouldn't worry so much. You've seen what we can do, what we're capable of so that should lessen your fears and worries." She said as she finished the bed and surveyed her work.  
"You won't let anyone just take care of you will you?" He asked watching her.  
Tracey gave him a smile and shook her head. "Not a chance, I like to think that I'm too independent for my own good... I've never been one to let people take care of me, it makes me feel like a burden and I refuse to feel that way."  
"Taking care of someone like you could never be a burden." He commented and stood up. "I'll go get us some breakfast. Why don't you go check on Artemis?"  
"You still don't think that after all we've been through?" Shaking her head, Tracey closed the door behind them and took a few steps to the room next to them where Iolaus and Artemis stayed. Knocking on the door gently, she waiting to be invited in, lest Iolaus and Arty were engaged in other activities that she didn't want to interrupt. "Artemis? Iolaus? Anyone awake yet?" She called softly.  
After a moment the door opened a little and Iolaus slipped out and closed the door carefully. "She's still asleep." He explained. "I don't think she'll ever be a morning person." He gave a lopsided smile and looked her over. "You ok?"  
Tracey gave him a lopsided smile too and she shook her head.

"Artemis has never been a morning person and I'm surprised you're up." She started before resting a hand on his arm. "I want to apologize for the misery we've put you and Hercules through and throwing you bodily across the room at Dahok's temple."

He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. "Well since it was Ares that tossed me across the room I'm not mad. And the two of you are not a misery, despite scaring ten years off of my life by leaving us behind. I get it. Hercules probably doesn't but I understand it. You two rely on each other, you're stronger together than apart and we weren't going to let you be used as bait because we're dumb over protective males. I was mad at first but I had all of last night to think about what could have been different and the only thing that we could have done differently would have just prolonged the misery." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you two were still having dreams, Art tried not to let it show but she'd wake up in the middle of the night and get up to sew until she could stop crying. And if she was being affected I know you were."  
"Gotta love that sisterly bond we have." Tracey said with a shrug of her own shoulders. "We should probably get some breakfast and probably rest here for a little while before going back to Thebes. We'll talk more about that after we eat and rest I suppose... and thank you Iolaus."


	12. Chapter 11: Goodbye my Love

By the time they got back to Thebes Tracey and Hercules had come to the understanding that whatever romantic feeling they might have had were stress borne and had settled into a platonic relationship. Artemis and Iolaus however were another matter entirely, the pair were as close as Tracey had ever seen a couple and she was vaguely jealous but it didn't bother her much. Hercules showed her a small house near Jasons that was abandoned and with a little work would be perfect for her while Artemis and Iolaus settled back into his house. It was three days after their return when Tracey found herself outside working on her own small garden, she heard footsteps and looked up to see an elderly man approaching her home. "Hello." He said softly.  
Tracey looked up from the dirt she was turning over to churn up the nutrients for her flowers and stood up, dusting off her hands and looking at the elderly gentleman from head to toe. Even with Dahok gone, she was still a little suspicious of new faces unless they were accompanied by Hercules or Iolaus. This man didn't come off as threatening, but she noted something off about him.

"Hello sir, may I offer you something to drink?" She asked, picking up the basket of flowers beside her so she could put them into a vase when she entered the house.  
He smiled gently. "That would be nice." He said but he stayed on the other side of the wooden fence.  
He thanked her when she returned with some water and sipped the beverage. After a moment he spoke up. "I stopped at Iolaus's home first but it seemed… imprudent to knock just then."  
'Artemis, could you and Iolaus stop going at it like dogs in heat? Please?!' She thought to herself and then looked back at the elderly man in front of her and smiled. 'You're embarrassing me... and you don't even know it!' Tracey laughed and face planted her face into her hands and shook her head after she had put it down on the raised flower bed wall.  
"What brings you here... Zeus, almighty God of the Olympians?"  
He chuckled. "You're smarter than most." He commented and set the cup aside. "I've come to send you both home."  
"What?" Tracey's heart suddenly stopped beating for a moment and she just stared at him. The arrival of Nargis made her blink and refocus on her feathery black bird. He chirped at her and brushed his wings over her cheeks, wondering what was wrong. Tracey took the bird in her hands and began petting him, slowly sitting down on a bench near the flower gardens and breathing slowly. Letting out a breath slowly, Tracey took a few minutes to regain her composure and nodded. "I guess it is inevitable that it should come to this..." She started before looking at Nargis. "Would you bring the others please."  
Nargis chirped and flew off towards Iolaus and Artemis's house. Zeus leaned on the fence and regarded her calmly for a moment before speaking again. "When the Fates told me that I would have to summon a woman from the future to save History I was only planning on bringing your friend. She's the witch after all and she's still prays to the Gods even in your time period, you were a wonderfully unexpected surprise. To myself and my son."  
Tracey had watched Nargis fly off, now looked over to Zeus and gave him a small smile before resting her chin in the palm of her hand and regarding him with a tilt of her head. "I can't say that I haven't enjoyed being brought to Greece in the first place, but I don't know how Artemis would have fared without me." She said softly, pushing a few stray hairs from her face and tucking them behind her pointed ear. "She's strong in her own right, but she's even stronger with support from those closest to her... like Hercules is made stronger by Iolaus."  
He inclined his head acknowledging the point. "You were both a refreshing change of pace. With all of Time in the balance and coming from such a different time you both somehow managed to make the adjustment."  
Hercules arrived first having seen Nargis on his way to Iolaus and Artemis. He glanced at Zeus and stiffened. "Father." He said coolly.  
"Hercules. Good to see you." Zeus replied trying for neutrality.  
"So why show up now when you ignored our every attempt to contact you while we were dealing with Dahok." Hercules asked coldly.  
"Because if the Gods had gotten involved the battle would have ripped the fabric of time to shreds." Zeus replied.  
"Besides, there's no point in bringing it up now because what's done is done." Tracey said quickly, standing up and waving away anything further to be said on that subject. "It's in the past now."  
She couldn't help but laugh softly about her last statement and smiled even wider when Nargis flew back to her. He, as a bird and animal, didn't really care for what other humans were doing and had no problems disturbing Artemis and Iolaus. He had returned to let Tracey know that they were coming and would be there in a few minutes. Tracey thanked him, held him close her her, not wanting to let go, and stood beside Hercules. She didn't know what he was feeling right now, but she knew she was feeling a little beside herself.  
When Artemis and Iolaus arrived Artemis gave an oddly deferential bow that was out of character for her. "Zeus. I didn't think we'd actually get to meet."  
He smiled slightly. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you knew who Ii was without introduction."  
"Well, I am a witch." She replied as if that explained everything and looked at Tracey and frowned. "You're sending us back aren't you?"  
Iolaus felt his stomach clench and he reached out and took her hand as if that alone could keep her with him. Zeus looked at them a little sadly and Hercules scowled. "Are you serious Zeus, after all they've done… all they've been through you're going to just send them away. Artemis and Iolaus love each other, doesn't that matter?"  
Zeus gave his son a hard look then calmed and looked at Tracey and Artemis but it was Artemis who answered, her voice squeezed tight. "Herc…" She cleared her throat. "Hercules… we can't stay. We're from the future, just being here impacts everything that will happen from this point onward."  
Zeus nodded and jumped in. "The Fates are doing everything they can to reduce the impact but the weave of time is coming unraveled around the edges."  
Tracey's own throat was becoming tight and she felt like she couldn't breath. Nargis chirped and looked up at her, fluffing himself up and trying to get her to smile.  
"We all knew this was going to happen, we just didn't think it was going to come to pass so soon." She said quietly. "Iolaus, thank you for teaching me some awesome fighting moves. Hercules..."  
Tracey took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. "You will always be my hero, take care of yourself."  
Iolaus let go of Artemis for a moment to hug Tracey then Hercules hugged her as well. Iolaus took Artemis off to the side and they held each other pressing their foreheads together while Iolaus whispered something. After a minute Artemis gave a watery laugh and kissed him. Hercules clenched his fists. "Zeus, can't you do anything?"  
Zeus shook his head looking regretful. "It's been all I can do to keep Time from coming apart at the seams while they were here. They made it a little easier by not talking about the future but I have to send them back now."  
Artemis walked over to stand by Tracey wrapping an arm around her friend. She'd wiped the tears away and was standing tall and proud, she smiled at Hercules. "You're a good man Hercules and no one can take that from you. Keep each other safe."  
She took a shaky breath then nodded at Zeus. "Iolaus and I have said what we needed to. Send us home."  
Zeus rested a hand on their shoulders and Greece began to fade away. The ground shook and Lightning crackled around them. There were three huge claps of thunder one after another and Artemis and Tracey felt themselves being pushed away.


	13. Epiloug

Hercules glanced up the road towards Iolaus's home. He knew his best friend was hurting but he had no idea how to help the man, after all how did you help your best friend, your partner through a loss so profound. It might have been easier if Artemis had actually died, at east then Iolaus would have had the sense of closure, of knowing he would see her again in the Elysian Fields but she wasn't dead, she was just gone and a little bit of the light had seeped out of Iolaus.

What made it worse was that Iolaus had been working on an addition to the small house and in a moment of unchecked joy he'd mentioned hoping that they could have a child together. When Iolaus started talking about children his heart was totally invested. Hercules set the hayfork aside and went to wash up when a figure came pelting down the road. A young man looking travel stained and half out of his mind with fear. "Hercules! You have to help us! Raiders from the sea are pillaging the coastal cities!"

Hercules glanced back up the road and nodded. Let me get my partner and we'll be ready to go." A distraction, that's what Iolaus needed, work to keep him distracted until his heart healed a little. He ran up the road and stopped in front of Iolaus's little house. Artemis had done a good job getting it cleaned up. The exterior was even painted. He could see a spinning wheel through the open door and a half done dress sitting on a chair and the interior was neat and as orderly as his mother had kept hers. Iolaus was sitting on the bed holding something in a cupped hand. Hercules knocked and ducked in through the low doorframe. "Iolaus, raiders are terrorizing coastal villages, they need our help."

Iolaus looked up and held up the item in his hand. A silver band with a dragon. He'd seen it on the thumb of her left hand. "She gave this to me before they were sent home." He said and closed his fist around it. "She told me that to her it was as good as marriage. That she would consider herself married from then until she died and if the Gods were kind we'd be together in death." Iolaus choked a little at the end and Hercules saw the tears.

He stepped forward and put a hand on his friends shoulder. "She loves you. No matter where she is or how many centuries are between you she loves you and nothing will ever take that away. But you know she would want you to live. "

"How? I feel like I can barely move." Iolaus ground out and swiped angrily at his tears.

"Live the way she would. Did she ever let her own pain stop her? Did she ever just give up? If you love her then be the man she loves or you know she will kick your ass when you meet again." Hercules fervently hoped they would meet again in the afterlife at least.

Iolaus took a few deep breaths. "You're right. I know you're right. Just... give me a minute Herc."

Hercules nodded an stepped outside. He heard Iolaus moving around inside, probaby closing shutters and locking the things away. When he came back out Iolaus had his sword belt on, his pack on his shoulder and Artemis's ring on his left hand. It barely fit on his ring finger and Hercules made a mental note to get it stretched a little but Iolaus looked determined. He wasn't back to his usual self yet but he was going to try.

He would try for Love. And in the end that was all Hercules could ask for.

** Authors Note:  
Don't worry guys we're going to see a lot more of Artemis and Tracey and I have something Special planned for our favorite Blond Hunter but you'll have to follow the series to see what. Please go over to the TMNT Story New York Isn't Ready to follow the girls adventure!


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